


The Mummy

by AvyJC15



Series: The Mummy (1999) Series [1]
Category: The Mummy (1999)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-19
Updated: 2015-02-24
Packaged: 2019-05-15 02:28:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 52,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14781923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvyJC15/pseuds/AvyJC15
Summary: An English explorer called Annabella Carnahan and her younger sister Evelyn, who works as a librarian, become interested in starting an archaeological dig at the ancient city of Hamunaptra. They gain the help of Rick O'Connell, after saving him from his death. What Anna, Evelyn, their brother Jonathan and Rick are unaware of is that another group of explorers are interested in the same dig. Unfortunately for everyone, this group ends up unleashing a curse which had been laid on the dead High Priest Imhotep.Now 'The Mummy'  is awake, and it's going to take a lot more than guns to send him back to where he came from.**ATTENTION** I DO NOT OWN ANY OF STEPHEN SOMMERS'S ORIGINAL CHARACTERS FROM THE ORIGINAL 'THE MUMMY' NOR THOSE FROM THE VIDEO GAME 'UNCHARTED' (Nathan Drake, etc.). I ONLY OWN ANNABELLA CARNAHAN AND A FEW RANDOM CHARACTERS NOT MENTIONED IN EITHER GAME OR MOVIE.Also, please note that I have not edited, nor will I edit this story and will be publishing it here as I originally did in Wattpad.





	1. Preamble

**Author's Note:**

> Hey peeps!
> 
> So, this is the first story I'm publishing here in "Archive Of Our Own." You'll find all these same fanfics, which are of my own creation, on my Wattpad and Quotev "Works/Published" page.
> 
> I will write the links down below, at the end of this chapter, but you will also be able to find them on my profile page.
> 
> You will find I have a large variety of stories pertaining mostly to all things fantastical and magical, such as Harry Potter, Narnia, The Mummy (obviously), and a whole bunch of Marvel stuff as well.
> 
> On another note, I hope you enjoy my fanfics!

**THEBES** **—** **1,290 B.C.**

Glaring out over the city at the setting sun was a handsome, muscular man with intense, evil eyes. This man was Imhotep, High Priest of Osiris, Keeper of the Dead. Thebes was his home.

A gorgeous, olive-skinned goddess entered the outer foyer. Thebes was her home as well. It was her birthplace. As she gracefully walked, one who saw her would have believed she was wearing a skin-tight dress, though it wasn't, in fact, a dress at all, but rather her entire naked body that had been painted in the ancient Egyptian manner. She was a stunning sight to behold. This woman was Anck-su-namun. She was the Pharaoh's Mistress.  No other man was allowed to touch her.

She made her way through the ornate statuary. Behind a cracked stone face, there was a man, watching the Pharaoh's Mistress and the Priest. The man was really strange looking, his body covered in tattoos. After the beat of a second, his eyes nearly popped out at the sight before him. Several more of these hideous, bald men stood nearby. They were the priests of Osiris. Imhotep's men. Their eyes watched Anck-su-namun vanish through the bedroom curtains. Anck-su-namun embraced her lover, and then they kissed passionately, feverishly. Imhotep's hands roamed over her perfect body, smearing the paint. The action was so full of love and passion but it would soon come to an end, because for their love, they were willing to risk life itself.

And so it was as they had not known that the man who had once been watching through the cracked stone face wasn't the only one watching them... but he was the only one unaffected.

On the other-side of the curtains, the bald Priests rushed over and closed the doors. But just as they did, the doors suddenly burst open. Pharaoh angrily strode in and looked at the Priests.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

The Priests backed away, scared shitless, obviously his arrival was unexpected. Pharaoh strode for the curtains and threw them back.

Anck-su-namun stood alone. She tried to put on a fake act by smiling at him seductively, but the Pharaoh did not fail to see the smeared body paint.

He pointed at it angrily. "Who has touched you?!"

From behind him, his sword was ripped out of its scabbard. Pharaoh spun around. It was Imhotep. Pharaoh was shocked.

"Imhotep? .... My priest."

Behind him, Anck-su-namun lifted a dagger and plunged it into his back. Pharaoh screamed. Imhotep raised Pharaoh's sword. The hideous bald Priests slammed the doors and bolted them tight. Through the curtains, they saw the shadows of Anck-su-namun and Imhotep stabbing away at Pharaoh. Suddenly, the doors were rammed from the other side.

 _WHAM!_  Imhotep and Anck-su-namun turned and looked.

 _WHAM!_  The doors were rammed again. The two lovers shared desperate looks.

 _WHAM!_  The bald Priests ran up and grabbed Imhotep and tried and pull him towards the balcony.

"Pharaoh's bodyguards!" they shouted at him to make him understand why he had to leave.

Imhotep tried to break free, but Anck-su-namun ripped Pharaoh's sword out of his hand and pushed him towards the balcony.

"You must go. Save yourself. Only you can resurrect me," she told her lover.

Imhotep's face filled with despair. The doors finally exploded open. Men with blue-tinted skin and strange puzzle-tattoos over their bodies strode in, armed to the teeth. These men were the Mumia. The Priests hustled Imhotep out onto the dark balcony just as the Mumia ripped through the curtains.

Anck-su-namun pointed at Pharaoh and hissed, "My body is no longer his temple!" And she plunged the sword into her own heart.

Out on the balcony, Imhotep's mouth opened into a horrible silent scream...

For murdering Pharaoh, Anck-su-namun's body was to be cursed. And it was Imhotep, the High Priest, whose duty it was to curse it.

Imhotep led a torch-lit procession across the dunes. Anck-su-namun's mummy was carried by Nubian Slaves. Her body was mummified, her vital organs removed. They put her down in the sand along with five jewel encrusted jars. Imhotep, filled with dread, read from a book made out of pure gold. This was the Book of The Living. This book contained sacred incantations that would send the evil dead on a journey into the dark underworld.

Strange light suddenly flashed across Anck-su-namun's body and across the faces of the slaves and the Egyptian soldiers. Suddenly, everyone's fear-filled eyes all rose, as if watching Anck-su-namun's body rising. Then, one last huge flash, followed by a blast of wind, and it was over. Anck-su-namun's body now lied twisted on the ground. Imhotep's Priests place the body into a stone sarcophagus. The Nubian slaves lowered it into a hole and buried it with sand. Imhotep then signaled to the Soldiers, who threw their spears at the Nubians. Killing them.

_The slaves were killed...._

Imhotep's knife-wielding Priests attacked the now unarmed Soldiers, hacking at them in the flickering darkness as Imhotep and the Mumia solemnly watched.

_.... and the soldiers who killed them were also slain, so that no unholy person should ever know the exact location of the burial site._

The Mumia walked off across the sand and then, one by one, the Priests stopped their frenzied stabbing and stared off at the vanishing Mumia. As the last Mumia disappeared over a distant dune, Imhotep nodded, and the Priests leaped onto Anck-su-namun's grave and begin digging it back up with their hands.

That night, in the desert of Sahara, chariots raced out into the moonlit desert. Imhotep led the way. A 'hearse' carried Anck-su-namun's mummy on their way to a city...

There was another book there. The Book Of The Dead, which was never to-be opened, never to be read, for it contained the incantations that could bring a dead body back to life a most unholy thing. They raced up the stone ramp and in through the city gates.

 _It was hidden at Hamunaptra, City of the Dead, inside the statue of Anubis, so that no such sacrilege might ever disgrace Egypt._...

Imhotep pulled an ornate chest out of a secret compartment inside the giant statue of Anubis. He opened the chest and lifted out the Book of the Dead, made of black stone.

_.... but for his love of Anck-su-namun, he was willing to defy the gods._

Big hairy rats scurried through the mausoleums and over the headstones of the very large, scary, underground Necropolis cemetery. A detritus moat surrounded the cemetery— muck made out of filthy water and human remains. Skulls bobbed in the goop. The Priests had gathered in a circle. Their hooded, lifeless eyes seemed dead to this world. Their bald heads rocked back and forth as they chanted, a quiet eerie hum. Heinous creatures. In the middle of the circle was a strange, twisted altar. Imhotep had unwrapped Anck-su-namun's gorgeous, lifeless body and placed her five sacred canopic jars around her.

_Anck-su-namun's vital organs were still fresh, so a human sacrifice would not need be made._

As Imhotep began to read from The Book of The Dead, a large swirling hole started to open in the detritus bog. Several Priests looked over at it, frightened, then quickly looked back down and resumed chanting. A strange mist wafted up out of the swirling hole and over to the jars, it passes through them and into Anck-su-namun's body. One of the jars shuddered, the heart inside began to beat. The chanting Priests, the swirling hole, the wafting mist, the beating heart, Imhotep's reading— they were all reaching a crescendo.

Anck-su-namun's eyes suddenly flew open.

 _Anck-su-namun's soul had come back from_   _the dead! Now all that was needed, was to_   _return her organs to their rightful place_   _within her body._

Imhotep lifted a sacrificial knife above Anck-su-namun's breast, about to plunge it down. The chanting, swirling and beating heart climaxed. And that was when the Mumia burst in and stormed through the startled Priests. The head Mumia smashed the jar with the beating heart. The mist instantly sucked back out of Anck-su-namun's body and imploded back into the swirling hole. Anck-su-namun's eyes closed. Dying once again. Imhotep screamed in rage but he stopped the second he saw  _her_. By the look in her beautiful hazel green-specked eyes, he knew that he had hurt her the most. He knew he had betrayed her and that she was well aware of it. The Mumia grab him and his Priests.

 _His Priests were condemned to be_   _mummified alive_.

Inside a torch-lit chamber, Imhotep was held by Anubis-headed embalmers. He cringed at the flickering, impressionistic glimpses of his Priests being embalmed and mummified alive. The horrid-looking Embalmers, using knives, needles and thread, calmly perform their ghastly surgery on the screaming Priests, who were going insane from the procedure. A red hot poker was pulled out of a pit of burning coals. A Priest's head was wedged between two strong boards. His eyes widened in terror as an Embalmer moved to insert the red hot poker up his nose. Imhotep was horrified as he watched the Priest scream in agony.

All twenty-one of Imhotep's Priests squirmed inside their wrappings. Imhotep was forced to his knees. His arms were held back. His mouth was pried open.

_He was condemned to endure the Hom-Dai. The worst of all ancient curses. One so horrible, it had never before been bestowed._

He looked at the Mumia standing not far away and quickly spoke, before they could proceed any further. "It is true that my love of Anck-su-namun was the cause of this, but I will come back. I will come back for my  _true_  queen."

With that proclaimed, his head was pulled back and his mouth pried open once more. Using a pair of tongs, an Embalmer slowly pulled Imhotep's tongue out of his mouth, then placed a very sharp knife on top of it. Imhotep's eyes widened as his tongue was cut out. The Embalmer flung Imhotep's tongue onto the floor where the Mumia's dogs attacked and quickly ate it.

Imhotep was then wrapped. Only his mouth, nostrils and fear-filled eyes were left free of the slimy bandages. Detritus muck boiled inside a black cauldron. Embalmers scooped out the fetid muck and applied it to Imhotep's wrappings as he squirmed. He was then laid in a wooden coffin inside a stone sarcophagus. An Embalmer with a bucket stepped up and looked into the coffin. Imhotep's wild eyes stared back. The Embalmer emptied the bucket over Imhotep's chest: dozens of scarabs, disgusting dung beetles. They scurried across Imhotep's screaming face. Some vanished into his tongue-less mouth and up his nostrils.

_By eating the sacred scarabs, he would be cursed to stay alive forever. And by eating him, they were cursed just the same._

The lid to the coffin is slammed shut. Then, using a strange four-sided key, the Head Mumia locked the coffin lid tight. The heavy sarcophagus lid was shoved into place and with a loud  _Whoosh_  sealed itself airtight. Once again, the Head Mumia used the strange key, locking the sarcophagus lid tight.

_He was to remain sealed inside his sarcophagus, the undead for all of eternity._

The blue-skinned, strangely tattooed man carefully collapsed the sides of the key, turning it into a little puzzle box.

_They would never allow him to be released. For he would arise a walking disease, a plague upon mankind, an unholy flesh-eater, with the strength of ages, power invincibility._

Imhotep's sarcophagus was dropped into a detritus pit. The disgusting muck splashed up, drooled down its sides, and then was mysteriously sucked into. It was seamed, vanishing clean.

_And if he could raise his beloved Anck-su-namun from her place in hell, together, they would be an unstoppable infection upon this world. The Apocalypse._

What had changed the man's mind at the last emerald before being mummified? No one ever knew.

Imhotep's horrifying tongue-less screams could be heard coming from inside his sarcophagus, centuries later, as grave diggers shoveled dirt onto it.


	2. Three thousand years later

**HAMUNAPTRA RUINS** **—** **1923**

For three thousand years, men and armies fought over this land, never knowing what evil lay beneath it; and for three thousand years, the Medjai, descendants of Seti's sacred bodyguards kept watch.

Presently, they were watching a Tuareg horseman letting out a loud battle cry while racing across the desert with two thousand of his warrior brethren, armed to the teeth.  
  
A mile across the scorching desert, two hundred French foreign legionnaires scurried through the ruins of Hamunaptra, preparing for the onslaught. Our hero was up on the wall, his Kepi sitting at a jaunty angle. Dashing and handsome— this was Rick O'Connell.

He looked out at the massive screaming horde galloping at him.  
  
"I knew this was gonna be a lousy day," he muttered just as a doughy little Frenchman joined him as he made his way across the top of the wall.

This... guy was Beni.

"Personally, I would like to surrender. Why can we not just surrender?" he asked.

O'Connell rolled his eyes. "Shut-up and gimme your bandolier."

Beni pulled off his cartridge belt and handed it over to him. "Then let's run away. Right now. while we can still make it."

O'Connell throws on the cartridge belt, crisscrossing his own bandolier.  
  
"Now gimme your revolver, you'll never use it anyway,"the American said.

 Beni pulled out his pistol and chucked it to O'Connell. "Then let's play dead, huh? Nobody ever does that anymore."

O'Connell slid the pistol into his belt, next to his own revolver. "Now go find me a big stick."  
  
Beni looked at him incredulously. "In the desert? What for?"

O'Connell turned and went nose-to-nose with him. "So I can tie it to your back, you appear to be without a spine."

The horde of warriors thundered forward, now a half mile out, scimitars rattling. O'Connell and Beni ran through the ruins.  
  
"How'd a guy like you end up in the Legion anyways?" O'Connell asked.  
  
"I got caught robbing a synagogue. Lots of good stuff in them holy places; churches, temples, mosques, and who's guarding them?"  
  
O'Connell gave him a weird look. "Altar boys?"  
  
"Exactly! I speak seven languages, including Hebrew, so my specialty was synagogues. How about you? Kill somebody?" Beni tripped and accidentally tackled O'Connell to the ground.

O'Connell gave him a nasty look. "No, but I'm considering it." They got up and ran out the gate and down the stone ramp.  
  
"What then? Robbery? Extortion? Kidnapping!"  
  
"None of the above, thank you."  
  
"Then what the hell are you doing here!?" Beni exclaimed. They both skidded to a stop at the front line as they saw the horde of warriors.

O'Connell gave Beni a big cheesy smile. "I was just looking for a good time."

Hooves pounded from behind them and their commander ran off on his steed, O'Connell and Beni staring off after him.

Both men shared a look of disbelief before Beni said, "You just got promoted."

O'Connell gave him a look an incredulous look before turning his attention back to the upcoming army.  
  
"Oh, shit! Prenez vos positions!" he shouted as the horde grew closer.

"Steady!" He gave the men around him courage. But onward came the horde, hoofs pounding the sand. Several more Legionnaires take off.

"You're with me on this one right?" he asked Beni, not once taking his eyes off the Tuaregs.

"Oh, your strength gives me strength," Beni replied in a shaky voice, making O'Connell look at him weirdly.

The pounding hooves grew louder and louder. And that was when the cowardly Legionnaire Colonel suddenly panicked, cut and ran. O'Connell instantly stiffened.

"STEADY!" he shouted again before muttering to himself, "What the hell am I sayin'?"

The Tuaregs let loose with those horrifying oooo-loo-loog screams. More Legionnaires hauled-ass and Beni was one of them.  
  
"STEADY!!" O'Connell shouted once more.  _What the hell am I doin'?_  he thought to himself.

The Tuaregs set their rifles and took aim. O'Connell steeled himself, cocked and locked. The cartridge in his mouth suddenly snapped and he spit it into the sand. Another beat. And then—  
  
"FIRE!"  
  
The Legionnaires on the ground fired. The rifles reported with a  _CRASH_. The blast blew dozens of Tuaregs clean off their mounts and the prone Legionnaires quickly began to reload.  
  
"FIRE!"  
  
The kneeling Legionnaires fired. More Tuaregs bit the sand. The remaining warriors opened fire. Thunder and smike ripped the hot air. A third of the Legionnaires were killed instantly.  
  
 "FIRE!" O'Connell shouted again.  
  
The remaining standing Legionnaires fired. Tuaregs span off their mounts and crashed onto the sand. And then the entire Tuareg force plowed into the ruins and through the Legionnaires. O'Connell grabbed the barrel of his rifle and started clubbing riders off their steeds, fighting like a man possessed. Beni on the other hand, was belly-crawling across the sand, whimpering in full retreat as Legionnaires fell dead all around him. He crawled through the front gate. O'Connell threw his rifle down and went for his guns. He cross-drew, gun in each hand, and started blowing riders off their mounts. Beni crawled faster, and then he spotted an open Temple doorway amongst the rocks. He got up and sprinted for the door as the last of the Legionnaires were shot off their feet behind him. O'Connell's guns went empty.  
  
"Son-of-a-bitch." He turned and ran like hell, right through the front gate. Four Tuareg warriors on massive Arabians hauled-ass after him. O'Connell hurdled a stone column and hit the ground, running. He spotted Beni inside the Temple doorway, trying to close the heavy sandstone door.  
  
"Hey! Beni! Wait up!" Beni had no intention of waiting up, he pushed harder.  
  
"What are ya doing?! Wait up!" O'Connell ran faster as Beni pushed harder. The four Horsemen leaped the big column and charged after him.  
  
"Don't you close that door! DON'T YOU CLOSE THAT DOOR!"  
  
Beni closed the door just as O'Connell reached it. O'Connell slammed his body into the door, but it didn't budge. "I'm gonna get you for this!"

He turned and bolted off around the rocks, running for his life, weaving through the ruins. The Arabians were getting closer and closer. The pounding hoofs got louder and louder. O'Connell finally spun around and faced his attackers. The four massive horses crashed to a stop in front of him. The vicious Tuaregs raised their rifles to finish him off. O'Connell just stood there, exhausted and beaten, then he slowly lifted his right hand and gave them the bird.

And that's when the horses went ape-shit.

All four of them reared up. Two of the riders were thrown to the ground. The horses screeched, bellowed and snorted in fear, then bucked like fury and hauled-ass away as if the devil himself had scared them. The thrown riders got up and raced off after their mounts. O'Connell just stood there, stunned, then he lifted his right hand and checked out his middle finger. And then he felt the evil himself, and turned around.

The shattered, decrepit statue of Anubis stared back at him. Suddenly, the sand began to shift under O'Connell's feet. He started to back away, keeping his eyes on the transforming sand, it looked like huge snakes were wiggling and writhing beneath it, forming lines and shapes— drawing a picture. O'Connell quickly turned and ran off through the ruins. The sand stopped moving, and, drawn in the sand, was a picture of Imhotep's screaming face.

Up on a ridge, a group of riders watched O'Connell stumble clear of the decrepit city. O'Connell felt their presence and looked up. Very different from the Tuaregs, they had blue tinted skin and faces covered in strange puzzle-tattoos. The Mumia, also now known as the Medjai. Still watching Imhotep's grave after all this time. The Medjai leader was a huge, fierce man in black robes, with dual scimitars across his waist. His face was both handsome and horrible, and tattooed, only his was not blue. This was Ardeth Bay. His dark eyes watched O'Connell stagger off into the open desert...


	3. Puzzle box

**CAIRO** **—** **1925**

Cairo, a city so old the stars have actually changed their positions in the sky since it's birth. A city teeming with every form of life. A strange, mysterious, wonderful city.

After traveling around the world to find the fabled Cintimani Stone and Shrangi-La in a race against Serbian mercenaries with her old friend Nathan Drake, along with Chloe Frazer and old friends Elena Fisher and Victor Sullivan, and a heavy inspiration from Marco Polo and his travels through Asia, that was where Anna was headed... well, not after leaving a... "slightly" injured Nathan in London, her birthplace. It had been quite a while since she had last visited her younger sister and her older brother, so she thought a good "vacation" wouldn't hurt her to go and see them. Okay, it wasn't really just to visit them— Dr. Terence Bey (a man she never really liked much), who so happens to be her sister's employer, called her up there for assistance in a matter he did not reveal to her yet. She took up the call as an opportunity to visit her brother and sister whom she missed dearly.

Deep in the bowels of the city's museum lied the _stacks_.

Rows upon rows of towering bookshelves, filled with literature on the Antiquities. Standing at the top of a tall ladder between two of those rows and leaning against one of the bookshelves, was a rather uninteresting British girl: eye-glasses, curly hair-in-a-bun, a white over sized shirt tucked into a long boring skirt, your typical prudish nightmare. This was Evelyn Carnahan.

Evelyn pulled a book out from a stack under her arm, blew the dust off it, then placed it on a shelf with other books whose titles all begin with the letter 'O'. Then she grabbed another book out from under her arm and read the title.

"Tuthmosis?" she read aloud. "Now how did you get up here?" Carefully, so as not to lose her balance, she looked over her shoulder to the bookshelf behind her, where all the titles begin with the letter 'TO'.

Then she looked down. It was a long way to the bottom. Evelyn gently set the other books down on the top shelf, then turned and gingerly started to reach across the aisle with the Tuthmosis book. It was a little too far, so she stretched, reaching, holding the top of the ladder with her fingertips. She almost got it, closer now closer...

And that was when the ladder pulled away from the shelf.

Evelyn yelped, flung the Tuthmosis book and grabbed the top of the ladder, which now stood straight up. Evelyn held her breath, swaying precariously. After a long beat, she lost her balance and the ladder swing around, and Evelyn starts stilt-walking down the aisle.

"OHEIUGM! ! AHHHHHH!" she shrieked.

The ladder crossed the aisle, did an about face and headed back the way it came. Evelyn clung to the top, struggling for balance. The ladder teetered out into the main aisle and picked up speed. Evelyn screamed as it did a 180, spun into another aisle and finally crashed to a stop at the top of a bookshelf. Evelyn held her breath, then sighed heavily. And that was when the bookshelf fell away from her and crashed into the next bookshelf. Evelyn slid down the ladder and plopped to the floor. She looked up just as the domino effect kicked-in: each bookshelf crashing into the next. And onward it went. Bookshelf after bookshelf. Thousands of volumes flinging off shelves and scattering across the floor. It finally ended as the last shelf crashed into a wall. Evelyn's eyes are closed. She opened one eye. Looked left. Then right. Then opened the other eye and stared at the huge mess, unaware that someone was watching her with wide eyes, frozen by the door.

"Oops." Evelyn bit her lip as the Egyptian curator stormed in and stood by the door as well, beside a beautiful, flabbergasted brunette.

"Look at this!" the curator shouted. "Sons of the Messiah! Give me frogs, flies, locusts, anything but this! Compared to you, the other plagues were a joy!" 

Evelyn quickly got up and started gathering books. "I'm sorry, it was an accident," she apologized in a small voice, still not noticing the other present figure in the room as she was slightly hidden behind the door.

"When Rameses destroyed Syria, it was an accident. You are a catastrophe!" the curator exclaimed, then sighed. "Why do I put up with you?"

Evelyn turned to him, trying to contain herself, but before she could say anything, the beautiful brunette stepped forward and spoke, glaring at the man.

"You put up with her, because she can read and write ancient Egyptian, decipher hieroglyphs and hieratic, and she's the only person— besides me, not that I would volunteer in any sort—  _within_  a thousand miles who knows how to properly code and catalog this library."

Evelyn looked at the newcomer with wide eyes. Was she dreaming, or was she really there?

"Who needs smart women? I put up with her because your mother and father were our finest patrons, Allah rest their souls. Now straighten up this mess!" With that, the Curator stormed out.

Evelyn just stood there, lost between steam against the curator, and shock against the visitor. Standing right before her was a rather interesting woman. She was British as well, but you wouldn't be able to tell by her quite unusual style: cowboy hat, wavy hair cascading down to her mid-back, a dark blue tank top and a pair of tight black leather pants, the whole attire hugging every inch of her body perfectly showing off all of her perfect feminine curves, a pair of combat boots, not completely tied up, and a black leather jacket left open, slightly hiding her few weapons she brought with her, and a oval-shaped locket hung from a golden chain hooked around her delicate-looking neck, over a thin white ribbon of which its jewel was hidden under her shirt; your typical angelic nightmare. This was Annabella Carnahan... though if you called her that, or even Bella, you'd get shot in the shoulder— her name is Anna.

"Yeah, sure, just walk away after bringing up a touchy subject. Don't even tell me what you called me here for," the brunette muttered, glaring at the spot where the curator had stood. "I really hate that guy."

That snapped Evelyn out of her thoughts. "Anna!" she exclaimed herself and ran over to her sister, embracing her tightly.

Annabella smiled down at her younger sister as she returned the embrace. "Hey, Evy." She let out a chuckle and shook her head as she felt her sister still shaking slightly. "Calm down, Evy. The man's not worth it."

Evelyn's face softened and she hugged her sister even tighter. She really missed her.

"I missed you, Anna. Next time, don't—" Evelyn was cut off by a loud noise. Both sisters frowned at each other before they turned around.

"Hello?" Evelyn called out.

Annabella rolled her eyes. "Evy, if someone was here, trying to scare the crap out of us, attack, or whatever, they wouldn't exactly say 'hi'."

Quiet. Eerie.

Annabella motioned around with her hands at the silence. "See?"

Evelyn shrugged. "It was worth a shot."

And then they heard it again, like feet, slowly shuffling across the floor, coming from a nearby gallery.

"Okay, either the person is seriously inexperienced, or seriously drunk," Annabella said as she brought a handgun out of her gun holster that was hidden under her brown leather jacket.

Evelyn's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when she saw the weapon. "Where did you get that?!"

Annabella looked from her gun to her sister, then shrugged. "I did have to defend myself on my...  _crusades_ , you know."

"Yes, but a gun?!"

Annabella patted her little sister's head as if she were a little girl. "Handgun. And don't worry, I'll teach you how to use a bazooka, someday," she reassured nonchalantly before walking ahead, leaving her sister to roll her eyes before following her.

"Abdul? Mohammed? Bob?" Evelyn called out.

Annabella snorted.  _Bob? Seriously? Talk about traditional names_ , she thought as they went on forward.

The Carnahan sisters walked through the stacks and entered the ' _Ramesseum_ '.

The chamber was filled with treasures and plunder from the Middle Kingdom.It was very dark and quiet in there, the only light was from flickering torches at either end of the spooky gallery. The  _noise_  again! From the far side of the room, feet were slowly shuffling, plodding across the floor. Evelyn grabbed a torch and advanced alongside her sister. They looked around— a statue of Anubis, another of Horus, they stared down at the Carnahan sisters, who were starting to get creeped out now. They cautiously walked down the aisle, past a closed sarcophagus, past cases of ancient artifacts, past another sarcophagus— this one was open! Evelyn froze, swallowed hard, nervously looked around to see who could have opened it, while Annabella looked at it, cocking her head to the side, curiously. Then, Evelyn slowly leaned forward with the torch, and peered inside.

A hideous rotted mummy sat up and screeched at her! Evelyn screamed, dropping the torch and backed away, scared out of her wits while Annabella simply sighed and shook her head. She could tell this was not real, especially when, coming from inside the sarcophagus, she heard a man laughing. She rolled her eyes and put her gun away as Evelyn narrowed her eyes when a foppish cad crawled out from behind the Mummy, laughing his ass off, half drunk.

"Seriously drunk," Annabella muttered, answering her own previous assumption.

Evelyn fumed. "You... YOU...!"

"Drunkard? Fool? Rat-bastard? Please call me something original."

Meet Jonathan, the idiot Carnahan. 

As he shifted from inside the sarcophagus, Annabella pulled a cigarette out of the mummy's mouth and sighed, shaking her head. "Really Jonathan? Have you no respect for the dead?"

"Right now, I only wish to join them." He grinned drunkenly. "Glad to see you're back, little sister."

Annabella rolled her eyes and punched him hard in the chest, then again in the arm.

"Right now, I wish you'd join them sooner rather than later, before you ruin my career the way you've ruined yours," Evelyn said.

"My dear sweet baby sisters..." Jonathan hiccuped, before continuing to stumble over his words as he climbed out of the sarcophagus. "I'll have you… know that at this precise moment  _my_  career is on a high note."

"'High note'? Ha! For five years you've been scrounging around Egypt, and what have you to show for it? Nothing." Annabella sighed as they argued. Guess some things will just never change.

"Oh, yes I do! I have something right here!" Jonathan excitedly started scrounging around in his jacket.

Evelyn groaned. "Oh, no, not another worthless trinket, Jonathan, if I bring one more piece of junk to the Curator to try and sell for you—"

Jonathan pulled out a small, ancient box.

Annabella was instantly curious. She grabbed the box out of his hand, Evelyn peering over her shoulder. "Jon... where did you get this?"

Jonathan, knowing their weaknesses, gave them a mischievous smile.

"On a dig, down in Thebes."

Annabella rolled the box around in her hands, mumbling to herself as she translated the hieratics and hieroglyphs covering it.

Jonathan licked his lips in anticipation. "My whole life I've never found anything, Anna. Tell me I've found something."

Annabella's fingers played with the various little slats on the box, shifting them this way and that way, it was like a puzzle box. Then suddenly, it unfolded itself, almost-mechanically, turning itself into some sort of key. Sitting inside the open key/box was a folded piece of golden papyrus.

An ancient map.

Annabella glanced at her sister, who shared the same excited look as her, before looking back down at the box. "Jonathan?"

"Yes?"

Annabella smiled up at him. "I think you found something."

The curator Dr. Bey sat at his desk, staring through a jeweler's eyepiece at the key/box. Evelyn hovered behind him, trying to tone down her excitement over her brother's discovery. Annabella stood in front of the desk, eyes shifting around the room, every now and then, out of habit of always being vigilant, while Jonathan simply slouched about.

"See the cartouche there, it's the official royal seal of Seti the First, I'm sure of it," Evelyn explained.

"Perhaps..." The curator nodded slowly.

Jonathan leaned in from across the desk. "Two questions. Who the hell is Seti the First? And was he rich?"

Annabella rolled her eyes. "He was the last Pharaoh of the Old Kingdom, said to be the wealthiest Pharaoh of them all."

"Alright, good, that's good. I like this fellow, like him very much," Jonathan said, forcing Anna to roll her eyes at him again. She loved her brother, but he was worse than a magpie. If he saw something shiny, he would just take it. "By the way, what happened to your accent?"

Again, she rolled her eyes. "I've been with an American for the last few years, Jon, it ought to change someday," she replied before turning her attention back to the curator whom had just picked up the map.

"We've already dated it, this map is almost three thousand years old," she said.

"And the hieratics over here..." She inhaled deeply. "It's Hamunaptra," Evelyn continued for her as the curator studied the map with a magnifying glass.

The curator froze, suddenly very nervous, then he recovered. "My dear girl, don't be ridiculous, we are scholars, not treasure hunters. Hamunaptra is a myth," he said, as he leaned his back against his chair and rested his clasped hands on his stomach while looking up at Evelyn.

"Are we talking about  _the_  Hamunaptra?" Jonathan asked.

Anna nodded. "Yes. The City of The Dead," she said, moving her hands around in a quite dramatic way. "Where the early Pharaohs were said to have hidden the wealth of Egypt."

"Right, right, in a big underground treasure chamber. Everybody knows the story. The entire necropolis was rigged to sink into the sand. On Pharaoh's command, a flick of the switch! And the whole place could disappear beneath the dunes," Jonathan summarized.

"All we know is that the city mysteriously vanished around 1,290 B.C.," Evelyn said.

The Curator held the map closer to the burning candle-lamp. "As the Americans would say: it's all fairy tales and hokum."

The map 'accidentally,' caught on fire. The Curator threw it to the floor. Jonathan dropped to his knees and quickly put it out and lifted it up. The left third of the map was now missing.

"Dude!" Anna exclaimed.

Jonathan looked ready to burst into tears. "You burned it! You burned off the part with the lost city!"

The curator shrugged. "It's for the best, I'm sure. Many men have wasted their lives in the foolish pursuit of Hamunaptra, no one has ever found it, most have never returned."

Jonathan whined devastatingly. "You killed my map."

"I'm sure it was a fake, anyway, I'm surprised at you, Miss Carnahan, to be so fooled." The Curator reached for the key/box, but Evelyn quickly snatched it off the desk and gave him a very angry, suspicious look which Annabella wasted no time in mirroring.


	4. Prison break... ish

Cairo prison. One of the worst hell holes on earth. Every low-life form of scumbag can be found here. The warden, a first rate scumbag himself, escorted Annabella, Evelyn and Jonathan across the gallows courtyard.

"Come, come! Step over the threshold," said the warden to the Carnahans as they looked for a certain man. "Welcome to Cairo Prison, my humble home."

Annabella scrunched her nose. "No wonder he smells," she muttered under her breath, shaking her head. "Of all places in Cairo, we just had to come to a prison?"

Evelyn whispered to Jonathan, "You told us you found it on a dig down in Thebes!"

Jonathan shrugged. "Well, I was mistaken."

"You lied to us!"

Anna craned her neck to look at her. "He lies to everybody, what makes us so special?"

"We are his sisters!" she exclaimed.

Annabella chuckled and shook her head, smirking. "I knew he was lying in the beginning."

"Which only makes you." Jonathan pointed at Evelyn, "baby Carnahan, more gullible," he said, and Evy knew he had her there. Though it can't have been much of a victory for him.

"Jonathan, you stole it from a drunk at the local Casbah?!" Evy said, suddenly refusing to lose their argument.

"Picked his pocket, actually."

"Stole, borrowed, picked a pocket. What's the difference?" Anna asked.

"Exactly. So, I don't think—" Jonathan said, turning them around.

"Stop being so ridiculous!" Evy cut him off. Annabella stopped and waited as Evelyn spun them back around and continued walking forward towards the jail cells.

"What exactly is this man in prison for?" Anna questioned, as Evelyn approached her and the warden.

"This I don't know, but when I heard you were coming, I asked him that myself," the warden replied, leaning an arm on the jail cell, and called to some other prison guard in Arabic.

Annabella nodded to herself for a moment, thinking. "And what did he say?" she asked.

"He said he was just looking for a good time," The warden answered.

Annabella nodded to herself once more before shrugging with a small smirk on her pink lips. "Well, I think I like the man already," she said aloud to no one in particular. "It should be an easy prison break... ish. I wonder if he's American..."

The interior cell door burst open. A man in chains was dragged by four guards who shoved him up to the cell bars. From the looks of it, he'd been here awhile; his face was half hidden by long hair, a scraggly beard and many new bruises.

Evelyn looked at him, disgusted by his appearance while Annabella gave him a curious look.

" _Curiosity killed the cat_ ," Nathan had told her many times when he would see that look on her face, but she would just smirk at him and reply, " _Ah, but the cat had nine lives_."

"But he’s just a filthy criminal?"

Jonathan cringed. "Way to go, Evy," he said.

Annabella bit her lip and looked from her brother to the man, then back to her brother before she burst out laughing, catching the attention of many male, especially the prisoner's. "Th-This is the man you stole it from?" she managed to choke out between her laughs.

"Well—"

"You? Jonathan, seriously? You stole from this dude?" she asked, pointing at the prisoner.

"Yes, exactly. So why don't we go sniff out a spot of tiffin—" Jonathan started to find an excuse to leave, but was cut off his sister laughing her melodic laugh that sounded like wind chimes again. She sighed after calming down and wiped a tear that actually slipped down her cheek from all the laughing. Well, you can't really blame her. Her brother is actually pretty good at stealing, but only when it comes to taking them from someone at least his own size or half of his, not bigger. She's actually surprised he's standing right next to her and not buried in a coffin.

The three Carnahans finally turned their attention back to the prisoner.

"Who are you?" the man asked then he glanced at the brunettes, blue eyes lingering on Annabella.

"Definitely American," she muttered under her breath.

"And who're the broads?" he asked rudely.

"'Broads'?!" the Carnahan sisters repeated angrily.

"Now wait a goddamn moment," Anna raged, the American accent she acquired through her years spent with Nathan pouring out through her every word, the man looking up at her in surprise. Not everyday you see a women swear. "Do I look like a stupid girly broad to you, pal?"

"That's true," Jon mumbled. "I'm surprised you're not in one of these cells right now."

Anna smiled in a grim way Evelyn did not fail to notice. "My secret is that I don't get caught." She paused. "And by all rights, you should be too, Jon," she retorted.

"I'm just a local sort of missionary chap, spreading the good word and all that," Jonathan said, as he hesitantly stepped closer to the metal bars that separated him from the criminal. He reached back until he caught hold of Annabella's arm and tugged her forward. "These are my sisters, actually. Anna and Evelyn."

"How do you do?" Evelyn questioned, out of pure politeness.

The man's eyes traveled to the other sister, and she just nodded at him. He hadn't heard her speak more yet since she swore, and with the way she was dressed and how completely uncaring and at ease she looked, his interest had been piqued. She was wearing a pair of tight black leather trousers, a tight red shirt that showed a respectful amount of cleavage, and a black leather jacket along with a pair of black combat boots. She seemed to be sucker for the color black. She was also quite armed— knives attached to her thighs, two hand guns in their holsters wrapped around her perfect waist, though there was no doubt she had more weapons on her. They were simply hidden.

"Oh, well, guess they're not a total loss," he said, eyes still on Annabella whom simply raised an eyebrow at him.

"I beg you pardon," Evy said, staring at the man in disgust.

The warden glared at the prisoner. "You better watch yourself, or else..." he threatened.

"I tremble with anticipation," the prisoner replied before a guard clubbed him across the head, his face bouncing off the metal bars. He showed no pain, but just looked back and gave the guard a nasty look.

The warden then shouted in Arabic at someone behind them, then muttered something about being right back.

"Oh, take all the time you need." Anna smiled sweetly, internally puking. As the warden walked away she muttered, " Good riddance," making the chained man smirk in amusement as she fake gagged.

Jonathan sensed that the man would respond better to a woman, so he turned to Anna. He would have turned to Evy, but she was still silently fuming about the chap's blatant sexism.

"Ask him about the box," Jonathan whispered to her, and Anna rolled her eyes and shook her head, nudging Evelyn to do it instead.

"We found..." Evy started, before she noticed the man was no longer paying attention to them, but just staring at her sister absentmindedly. "— uh, hello excuse me," he said pulling his attention off Anna. The man looked at her annoyed.

Knowing this would take far to long, Anna rolled her eyes, and instead of being polite about it, she whistled loudly, making his eyes snap back to hers immediately. "Thanks. We found your puzzle box and we wanted to ask you some questions about it."

"No."

"No," Anna echoed as if the word was foreign to her.  _So much for an easy prison break..._

"No?" Evy asked in disbelief.

"No. You came to ask me about Hamunaptra," he said loudly, and Jonathan winced beside Evelyn.

Annabella clenched her jaw. "Gee, thanks for being so subtle about it," she muttered sarcastically and stepped forward slightly, crossing her arms over chest. "How do you know the box pertains to Hamunaptra?" she questioned.

"Because that's where I was when I found it. I was there," he replied.

"Really," Anna drawled looking over her shoulder to see if the warden was coming. Fortunately, he wasn't. He seemed like the kind of man who would take Hamunaptra for granted.

Jonathan decided to get brave, and stepped closer to the bars. Anna bit her lip, already knowing that it was a bad move.

"But how do we know that's not a load of pig swallow?"

The man looked at Jon, then narrowed his eyes in recognition. "Hey... don't I know you?" he questioned, and Anna knew she'd been right.

"No, I've just got one of those faces." And suddenly, Jonathan was on the floor, with Evy kneeling beside him, and the man was getting struck on the back as punishment for punching Anna's brother in the face.

"Hey!" she snapped, the man smiled slightly. Jon groaned as Anna walked over him, stepping on his side, and moved closer to the bars.

"Have you really been to Hamunaptra, or is that a load of shit?" she asked him looking straight into his eyes, her hazel eyes shining with hope and amazement.

A small smirk grew on his face. "I just decked your brother."

"I know, I've been meaning to do that, since about... three hours ago when I last punched him on his now bruised arm. Right now, you just beat me to the punch, literally. You still didn't answer my question."

"Yeah, I was there," he said, smiling cockily up at her.

"You swear?"

"Every damn day."

"No, she means—" Evy started as she shook Jonathan.

"— I know what she means. I was there, alright. Seti's place. The City Of The Dead," he replied, waving his hands around, the chain on his handcuffs clinking with the movement.

"What did you find?" Evelyn questioned as Anna asked, "What did you see?" Like her sister, she believed that if she could touch something and see it, then it was real, but that was until she had to fight strange monsters in the ice caves in that Tibetan village she found herself in with Nathan.

"I found sand. I saw death," he replied as the warden walked back in.

Annabella quickly leaned closer to the man. "Can you tell me how to get there?" she asked, though it wasn't really a question but more of a demand. He just blinked owlishly at her as though those words were the last he thought would come out of her mouth (which is weird, because if someone asked you if you knew about Hamunaptra and you told them you'd been there, how could you not expect them to ask you where it is?). She looked over her shoulder, before she leaned in a bit more. "The exact location."

"Want to know?"

Annabella leaned in even closer. "I wouldn't've asked if I didn't."

"Really want to know?"

She leaned her face right up to the bars, nervous and excited. "Yes."

He gestured for her to move closer so she did, and he grabbed her chin and pressed his lips against hers roughly. Annabella almost saw that happening, but let it anyway. He was behind bars, probably sharing a cell with a lot of other foul smelling criminals. One kiss couldn't kill her to spare.

"Then get me the hell outta here!" he exclaimed.

She watched him as a guard clubbed him, his face bouncing off the bars again, but before he could react, the guards grabbed him, yanked him away from the bars and started dragging him out of the room, but he fought against the guards long enough to say one last thing.

"Do it, lady!" Then a guard clubbed his hand, and he let go of the bar he had been gripped and they dragged him back inside.

"Where the hell are they taking him?" she asked, gesturing to the now closed door.

"To be hanged." Evelyn was shocked and Anna just shook her head and sighed. The warden showed-off his green teeth, "Apparently, he had a very good time."

Hundreds of filthy prisoners stared down onto the gallows as the hangman's noose is draped over the man's head and cinched tight around his neck. Annabella and Evelyn followed the warden onto a balcony above the gallows. The prisoners all went dead quiet at the sight of them; like jackals staring at fresh meat.

The warden turned to them. "No women allowed."

Annabella boringly pulled out her handgun out and brought it up to his head. "Say that again, and I’ll blast your brains out." She gave him a menacing glare.

Evelyn quickly grabbed her arm. "Stop, Anna!" She turned to the warden and said primly, "We are English women."

The warden looked confused at this, but shrugs and sat down. Evelyn sat down beside him as Anna leaned against the railing, staring at the man. He looks up, sensing her stare, and they just looked at one another until Anna hear her sister say, "I will give you one hundred pounds to spare his life." Anna sigh, it’s going to take a lot more than a hundred.

"I would pay one hundred pounds just to see him hang."

"T-two hundred pounds."

He ignored her and waved his hand, "Proceed!"

"Three hundred pounds!" Anna chimed in, walking backwards to sit on the other side of the warden.

The man could hear every word, he looked hopeful, and Annabella could see it in his eyes as they tightened the noose.

The hangman turned to him, "Any last requests, pig?"

"Yeah, loosen the knot and let me go," Anna heard him choke out. She chuckled at the man in disbelief as his eyes looked up at hers. The idiotic hangman looked up at the warden and spoke.

"Yahemar!" the warden yelled in disbelief. "Of course we don't let him go!"

The hangman grabbed the lever to the trapdoor.

"Five hundred pounds!" Annabella found herself yelling, taking the words right out of her sister's mouth.

"And what else? I'm a very lonely man," he said, lecherously placing his hand on her leg. Evelyn furiously slapped his arm, disgusted that he would do such a move on her sister while Annabella stood up, her face going cold as she pulled out her handgun and pressed it to his temple.

"If you want to keep your hand, you won't touch me ever again," she said cocking the gun. Insulted, the Warden angrily turns and gestured to the Hangman to pull the lever.

"No!" The Carnahan sisters screamed and ran to the balcony. The hangman had pulled the lever that controlled the trapdoor. The warden laughed as the trapdoor dropped open. The man dropped through the hole. The rope payed-out. The man's body snapped at the end of the rope. But he was still alive, because—

"Ha, ha! His neck did not break!" His words sent some of the other prisoners into a frenzy, but Anna wanted to punch the warden in the face. "Good! Now we watch him strangle to death."

The prisoners went ape-shit, screaming and shouting in anger. The guards looked around, nervous. The man struggled at the end of the rope, gagging. Evelyn was shocked and Anna, who was horrified, quickly turned to the warden with an icy glare.

"He knows the location to Hamunaptra." Anna didn't even realize that the words had left her mouth until her brain recognized them as her own. Evy stared at her, but knew that it was the only way to save the man's life now.

"You lie!"

Evelyn was shocked. If there was one thing she knew about her sister is that she was the most honest person in the world. "She would never!"

At the end of the rope, the man was choking and gagging and turning several shades of red.

The warden stared at the sisters.

"Are you telling me this filthy, godless son of a pig knows where to find the City of the Dead?" he questioned.

"Yes!" the Carnahan sisters snapped at him. The man's face was almost turning purple now from what Anna could see from the balcony.

"Truly?"

"And if you cut him down, we will give you ten percent," Anna said, hurriedly.

"Fifty percent."

"Twenty," Evelyn said.

"Forty." Forty. Evelyn hesitated, biting her lip. The man's eyes bulged as he looked up at her, he couldn't believe these women.

"Give.... give him.... give him GLAAAA—"

"Thirty." Evy raised the bar.

"Twenty-five," the warden said, lowering it again.

"Deal!" Anna quickly agreed.

"And not one single farthing more," Evelyn added with a big triumphant smile.

"Ah. Cut him down!" The warden groaned and as soon as she knew that they had won. The warden then yelled in Arabic at the scimitar to slash the rope, but before the said man could raise his sword, Anna whipped out her gun and fired. The bullet whizzed through the air, cut through the rope and landed in the wooden beam just behind it. The man crashed onto the ground, half dead and gagging, then began gasping for air as all of the prisoners burst into cheers.

The warden turned to stare at her, before appraising her. "That was a very good shot."

"Trick shots are my specialty," she replied.

Jonathan had a look of shock on his face as he looked at his sister before replacing it with a proud smile. He walked up to her an wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You are full of surprises, aren't you little monkey," he said, calling her by one of the nicknames he had given her when they were children. He was thankful he was her brother and that she didn't make much of the nicknames or else he would've surely been dead along time ago.

Anna shrugged and found herself smiling genuinely at him. "Been practicing," she replied, stepping out of her brother's hold and walking to the edge of the balcony, so she had a better view of the man, the gun still in her hand. He rolled over and stared up at her, and found it in him to smile as she saluted him like a soldier would, before she stepped back and disappeared from view.

_This is going to be interesting_ , he thought.


	5. Ambush

Candle light flickered across the Curator's face that night, as he sat in his office.

"She must die," he declared.

Standing in the shadows across from his desk were three Mumia— blue tinted skin, hideous facial tattoos— the works. One of the Mumia had a rusty metal hook for a hand.

He shrugged. "She is like all the others. She will die in the desert."

"No! She has seen too much. She knows too much. And with that sister of hers..." The Curator leaned across his desk, fear in his eyes. Not only does she have a map, but she has the key."

That spooked the hell out of the Mumia guys.

"The key!? She has the lost key!?" the hooked Mumia asked in disbelief.

"Yes. No one has ever had so much, been so close. We must stop her, or it will be the end of us all."

The hooked Mumia nodded. "Then we will kill her, we will kill her and all those with her."

"And burn the map and retrieve the key, but do not kill the middle one. Though she does not know it, she is one of us," the curator warned.

"It will be done. But what of the American expedition? They leave tomorrow as well."

"Forget the bumbling Americans, they will be like all the others. without the map to guide them, how can they possibly find Hamunaptra?"

"It is three days down the Nile, then two days by camel, sahibs," said a man standing on the bow of a passenger barge, the next morning. He was surrounded by three Americans of the names Daniels, Henderson and Burns.

"For all the money we're paying you, something better god-damned well be under that sand," Daniels warned before being slapped on the back by Henderson.

" _'Hamunaptra'_ , Daniels, that's all ya gotta keep sayin', to yourself, _'Hamunaptra'_ ," he said.

At Giza Port, a team of explorers swarmed the docks. Across the Nile, the pyramids spiked the sky. The boardwalk was besieged by Hawkers selling everything from toy tombs to King Tut action figures.

Annabella bit into an apple as she and her siblings walked along the boardwalk, their luggage behind them.

"Do you really think he's going to show up?"

"You have trust issues, sis," Anna told her taking another bite of the delicious fruit. "It's rather unattractive."

"Yes, undoubtedly, I know the breed," Jon said bitterly, answering Evelyn. "He may be a cowboy, but his word is his word."

"Besides," Anna added. "If he doesn't, I will hunt him down and drag him kicking and screaming if necessary. And Jonathan what the hell do you mean, you know his breed?"

"Well... I- uh..." he stammered. She rolled her eyes, throwing the apple core into the water.

"Well, personally, I think he's filthy, rude and a complete scoundrel. I don't like him one bit," Evelyn told them.

"How rude," Anna scolded her sister. "You shouldn't judge just yet, Evy. You never know. He might be a fine lad."

"Anyone I know?" a voice asked.

The three Carnahan's turned around. Their tour guide walked up; shaved, showered, spit and polished, with a new haircut and clothes. He looked more dashing and handsome than ever. Annabella was suitably impressed. Evelyn was just shocked. Her sister's always right.

"Oh... um...hello," she stammered, embarrassed.

Anna nodded at him, appraising his new looks. "You clean up well... O’Connell?"

He smirked as he looked at her and nodded, confirming his surname before looking at her brother when he playfully socked his shoulder.

"Smashing day for the start of an adventure, eh, O'Connell?" Jon chuckled nervously as he shook his hand.

"Yeah, smashing," Rick said sarcastically as he checked his wallet.

"Oh, no, no, I'd never steal from a partner... partner."

"Are you kidding me?" Annabella glowered. "You've stolen from me, millions of times! And I'm your sister!"

Rick chuckled as Anna chided her brother as if he was a little boy, and by the way he look down guiltily he looked like one too.

"That reminds me. No hard feelings about the—" he mocked a punch.

"Oh, no, no. Happens all the time." His eyes flickered to Anna who gave him a sweet smile and Rick had to hold back a laugh.

"Mr. O'Connell, can you look me in the eye, and guarantee me this is not some sort of flimflam?" Evelyn said, looking him in the eye.

"Yeah, because if you're just pulling us along, I will kill you," Anna said seriously, all trace of humor wiped clean from her face and tone.

"You'll kill me?" he repeated. He stepped into her personal space, but she stood her ground. "Kitten, let me put it this way: my Colonel found that map in an ancient fortress, and the whole damn garrison believed in it so much, that without orders, we marched halfway across Libya and into Egypt to find that city. Like I told ya, all I saw was sand. Everybody else was wiped-out by Tuareg warriors. I'll take your bags." He stared into her eyes for a moment , just now noticing the green specks in them, before looking away. "Let me take your bags."

He bent down, grabbing the suitcases, grabbing hers in the process. That snapped her out of her stun and she quickly took it out of his grasp before walking ahead, grumbling to herself, "Kitten? Why do men call me that? Do I look like a damn kitten? No! I'm a freakin' wolf— I eat kittens."

Raising an eyebrow, he shook his head and followed her onto the boat.

"Yes, yes, you're right, filthy, rude, a complete scoundrel, nothing to like there at all," Jonathan mocked Evelyn. She gave him a look to which he just grinned. "I can bet you anything that those two will end up together by the end of this tour, baby Carnahan." And that's when the warden suddenly brushed past, tipping his raggedy hat.

"A bright good morning to all."

Evelyn looked at him in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"I have come to protect my investment, thank you very much." And up the plank he went.

Evelyn and Jonathan shared a look before following suite. The barge pulled out and headed down the Nile.

As Anna was wandering around the deck, bag of weapons over her shoulder, she bumped into a man, causing her to drop her bag. "Oh, sorry. Didn't see you there," she apologized.

"No, it's my fault for running into a pretty face," he replied. She gave him an amused smile, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm Daniels by the way. David Daniels," he said holding out his hand for her to shake.

"Anna Carnahan," she replied taking his hand in her own.

"As in the famous archaeologist _Annabella_ Carnahan?"

She sighed. She hated when people used her full name, but not everyone knew that of course. Despite her uneasiness at her full name being used, she was actually surprised that someone on this vessel knew who she was.

"The one and only."

"It's an honor to make your acquaintance, ma'am." She could see that he was an American because his accent.

"Well, Mr. Daniels I hope you enjoy the journey."

"Likewise, ma'am." He gave her a tip of his hat before leaving. She smiled and picked up her bag before going back to the room she was going to share with her sister.

The sun soon dissolved int the moon, shining down on the desert. The three vicious Mumia quietly glided a narrow skiff out onto the river. The one with the hook sat in the middle of the skiff, the other two rowing, heading for the passenger barge coming their way.

Annabella stood by a table, cleaning her weapons and staring out over the passing river every now and then. It had been a long time since she had ended her romantic relationship with Nathan, but she couldn't help but miss that American dumb ass. She still couldn't understand how, after their last adventure, he was the one who ended up in a hospital when she was the one whom had come out the most damaged. She couldn't understand how she healed so quickly.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when a gunny-sack dropped onto the table beside, slightly startling her. _Slightly_.  
She looked up and saw O'Connell. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you," he said, smirking down at her as he removed his jacket.  
She gave him a pointed look, "It would take a lot more than you to scare me, Mr. O'Connell. Your manners, for instance." She inspect her now clean gun, before holstering it. She take out her a whetstone out of her bag and started sharpening the blade. She would then tuck that one into a small knife holster on her leg. When she got ready for bed she'd keep it on underneath her nightgown, with her guns in their holsters under her pillow. The other weapons she'd keep under her bed.

"Still angry that I kissed ya, huh?"

She shrugged. "I’ve had better." She moved on to another gun and started disassembling it, so she didn't see his smirk turn into a frown.

Shaking his head, he snapped his bag open and revealed his weapons. Anna raised an eyebrow, impressed by the collection he had amassed.

She chuckled. "So I see I'm not the only one who came prepared," she said, running a finger along the row of shells he had tucked in along the edge of the fold out bag. She then frowned. "Okay... I get the guns, but dynamite? It’s like you’re expecting a war." The thought of that made her uneasy and reluctant about this expedition now. The last time she went off on an adventure, she found herself in at least four wars in Borneo, Nepal, a Tibetan village, and in Shambhala.

"The last time I was at that place everybody I was with died." She gave him a curious look which encouraged him to continue.

"There's something out there, you know, something under that sand," he said as he focused on his pistol.

She tucked hers back into the empty holster on her shoulder, before she took out the other.

"Evelyn's hoping to find a book. Jon's looking for treasure. What do you think's out there?" she asked as she cast a trained eye down the barrel of her gun to see if it was aiming straight.

"In a word, evil. The Tuaregs and the Bedouin believe that Hamunaptra is cursed, they call it, _'the doorway to hell'_ ," he replied, inwardly shocking the Carnahan woman. She hadn't expected such wise words from him. He sounded very different from the half-crazed, half-filthy man from the jail cell.

"Ahmar is Ossirion. _'Passageway to the underworld'_ , actually." She corrected with a smirk before turning serious. "Look, my siblings don't believe in this kind of stuff, and I honestly don't care about fairy tales and curses, whether they're real or not, O'Connell, but my sister is convinced that one of the most famous books in history is buried out there. The Book of Amun-Ra. It contains within it all the secret incantations of the old kingdom. When we were kids, she did nothing but go on about it. It's why we came to Egypt. It was her life's pursuit—"

"I didn't peg you down as a follower," Rick interrupted her.

"I'm not. I've gone my own way, done my own... _things_ , made my own path. Evelyn is my little sister, and when she decided to go to Egypt, I felt it was my responsibility to make sure she was safe and though I didn't exactly do a good job at first seeing as I was around the world while she was stuck here with my idiotic brother— the main reason I came back— I would do anything for my family, O'Connell. Understand that now."

Rick saw it in her eyes that she meant what she said. If it came down to it, he was certain that this beautiful, puzzling woman would lay her life on the line to protect her brother and sister. Somehow that made her even more attractive, which did not help him at all.

"I got you. So the fact that they say the book is made of pure gold makes no never mind to you? Right?" he said, as he rubbed his shotgun down with a dirty rag. She rolled her eyes at him, and tossed him a clean one from her own pack. He took it and nodded his thanks.

"You know your history," she said, smiling at him.

"I know my treasure."

Annabella watched him for a moment, as he finished cleaning his shotgun, and pulled two handguns from his bag to check next.

"Why did you kiss me?" she questioned, not fully knowing why she had to know, but she just had to. She didn't like being kissed for nothing.

"Who knows? I was about to be hanged. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Anna felt the smile get wiped from her face. She packed up her weapons, rolling them up on the holder they were on, before slinging the bag onto her back. "You're a bloody arse, O'Connell," she muttered as she walked away from the table.

"What? What did I say?" he questioned, mostly to himself as he watched her walk away. He could say that he was a perfect gentlemen and that his eyes remained trained on the back of her head, but her curves beckoned to him and he followed them up and down.

"What is this woman doing to me?" he muttered, before he heard a noise that sounded familiar.

He cocked his gun, and stood, walking towards a shadow wearing a fez. The person the shadow belonged to was hiding behind some crates, and Rick instantly knew who it was eavesdropping on his conversation. He reached round the crates and grabbed the sniveling weasel, and shoved him against the crates.

"What a surprise! My good friend, you're alive!" the idiot said, appearing to be happy, but Rick knew it was because he thought he would kill him. "I was so very, very worried."

"Well, if it ain't my little buddy, Beni. I think I'll kill you," Rick said, cambering around and pressing the gun against Beni's chest.

"Think of my children!" the thin, pale coward cried, causing Rick to pause for a second.

"You don't have any children."

"Someday I might."

"Shut up!" Rick snapped, pushing Beni slightly more against the crates. "So you're the one who's leading the Americans. I might have known. So what's the scam, Beni? You take them out into the desert, and then you leave them to rot?"

"Unfortunately, no," Beni replied, figuring honesty was his only way to safety. "These Americans are smart. They pay me only half now, half when I get them back to Cairo. So this time I must go all the way."

"That's the breaks, huh?" Rick questioned sarcastically, letting go of Beni as he holstered his weapon. Beni stared at his old American friend curiously.

"You never believed in Hamunaptra, O'Connell. Why are you going back?" The coward questioned, but before Rick could answer, they heard one of the camels start to make noises. Both men turned to look over at the animals, and saw Anna patting one of the camels' heads.

"You see that girl?" Rick questioned, not tearing his eyes away from Annabella to see if Beni responded. She seemed to realize that she was being watched so turned, her weapons bag still slung across her shoulder, and raised an eyebrow at the pair, before sauntering away to her room. "She saved my neck."

"You always did have more balls than brains," Beni said, slapping Rick's arm gently and sniggering. When Rick seemed to join in on his laughter, Beni felt more at ease, especially when O'Connell rested his arm across Beni's shoulders.

"Goodbye, Beni." And suddenly, Beni wished he wasn't so naive, as Rick tossed him overboard and his body cut through the warm Nile water.

"O'Connell!" Rick could hear Beni shout, as he started to pack away his gear. That is until he noticed the wet footprints that led towards the rooms. He checked to see if Beni was still in the river, which he was, and then he realized. Someone had stolen aboard the boat. And he could guess why.

Annabella was dressed for bed, with the exceptions of the knife holstered on her thigh, and the two hand guns holstered on her shoulders. She had decided to keep them on her person, and the bag with her weapons in was at the end of her bed. Evelyn was pacing around the room, reading from a book as she readied herself for bed, and it was distracting. Anna pulled the hand gun on her right side from its holster and placed it in the bag, so she could rest facing the wall, but not before she drew the curtains around her bed closed, allowing just a crack of light to seep in.

She wanted sleep, but all she could think of was that damn kiss. It wasn't that long, or that satisfying, or wanted, but she couldn't forget it at all. She blamed his blue eyes. She always had been a fool for men with pretty blue eyes.

She groaned silently, burying her face into her pillow, until she heard Evelyn gasp loudly.

She begrudgingly sat up, prepared to ask her sister what great discovery she'd made, or what had she realized she had forgotten back in Cairo, and then she saw him. A man dressed in all black robes, with a black turban, and black tattoos on his face, with a weird knife pressed against her sister's cheek. He seemed to not recognize her presence in the room.

She silently pulled out her knife, and gently pulled apart the curtains a little wider.

"Where is the map?" he questioned, his voice sounding like he'd swallowed a handful of gravel.

Evelyn was panicking, but she didn't draw attention to where her Anna was. Anna would get her out of this.

"There," she said, gesturing to the round end table in the center of the small cabin.

"And the key? Where is the key?"

"The key? What key?" Evelyn asked, her eyes scanning the room for whatever key he was after. Suddenly, the door was kicked open and a knife flew through the air.

"Anna! Evelyn!" Rick O'Connell shouted, as the man groaned. The knife had sunk into the center of his back. Anna flung herself out of her bed, wrapped an arm around the man's neck, and twisted the knife, causing the man to scream. Rick grabbed Evelyn's arm and pulled her out the way, while he trained his gun on the man Anna was dealing with.

He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was impressed by the way she handled herself.

"Friend of yours?" Rick asked.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because I instantly become friends with the people I kill for trying to kills us," she replied sarcastically.

Another man appeared at the window, and Rick pushed Evelyn further behind him, as he opened fire. He quickly took that guy out, but a lantern dropped from the wall and a fire started, just as the man threw an elbow backwards and hit Anna in the gut. She stumbled back and she grabbed her weapons bag from the end of her bed, slinging it over her shoulder, and forgot all her other belongings. Except from her knife.

Annabella pounced on him once more, grabbing the knife, tucking it into its holster, before using a lit candle to blind him. She turned on her heels, and rushed behind O'Connell as he provided cover fire for their escape. Evelyn ran down the corridor ahead of them, before she gasped and ran back again.

"The map! The map! We forgot the map!" she said, as she was about to race past them. Rick grabbed her arm, and pulled her back.

"Relax. I'm the map. It's all up here," he said, gesturing to his head.

"That's comforting," Anna replied sarcastically as she chambered rounds into both her hand guns.

Havoc was unleashed everywhere, due to the gunfire, and the mysterious men in black that had stole onto the ship. People were running wild, the animals were panicked and fire was starting to lick every available surface. They needed to get off the boat and quickly.

Rick grabbed his bag of weapons, and dropped it into Evelyn's arms.

"Hold on to this," he told her as he used a wall for cover, with Anna next to him, and Evelyn at the very end. They were getting ready to duck out, when bullets started raining around them. Anna pushed Evelyn back so the pair with the weapons had more room. Rick was busy reloading, while Anna occasionally leaned around him to shoot at whoever was blocking their escape route.

As Rick was reloading, bullets started ripping holes into the wall they were sheltering behind, getting closer and closer to Rick's head, until Anna pulled his body away, as Evelyn tugged her back as well. And as Evelyn gasped with fright, Anna and Rick exchanged a look and nodded, before springing into action.

They both pushed away from the wall, and started forward, guns ablaze, the smell of smoke and gunpowder filling their nostrils as they fired at the man on the balcony opposite them. In a matter of moments, they had taken him out, as well as a couple more who had joined in the fight.

Rick turned towards Evelyn, and Anna, who had holstered her guns again, and was tightening the strap on her duffel bag.

"Can you swim?" he questioned them, as he grabbed his own bag from Evelyn, swinging it up onto his shoulder.

"Of course I can swim, if the occasion calls for it!" Evelyn yelled back at him. Annabella understood where he was going with his inquiry and stepped back slightly, as he pulled her younger sister into his arms.

"Trust me. It calls for it," he said, before dumping her overboard, ignoring her scream. Rick turned towards Anna, but she glared at him. So he merely gestured for her to dive in without his help.

Anna barely registered the splash, before she moved forward, climbed over the railing and dived into the warm Nile water herself. She took a deep breath before her body hit the water, and then immediately swam upwards to the surface again. Anna gasped, and pushed her hair out of her face, before she swam for the shoreline. Evelyn was already there, wringing out her white, now slightly sheer, nightgown. Hoping hers wasn't the same, she looked down at her similarly drenched white gown. It was clinging to her body, and accentuated certain body parts that could have done without being accentuated. O'Connell, Jonathan and the prison warden weren't too far behind them, and as soon as they were within ear shot, Evelyn began her complaining.

"We've lost everything! All of our tools, all the equipment, all my clothes!" she said, as Anna dropped her wet duffel bag onto the bank, and rolled her shoulders in an attempt to work out the kinks. She rolled her eyes next as she felt someone staring at her.

She turned and saw O'Connell's eyes burning holes into her body before he caught her eyes and cleared his throat, turning his eyes away.

"O'Connell!" A voice shouted from across the river. Anna narrowed her eyes, and focused until she could make out the outline of a slim, pale man waving his arms manically to get O'Connell's attention. "Hey! O'Connell! It looks to me like I've got all the horses!"

"Hey, Beni!" Rick shouted back, stepping a little closer to the river bank so Beni could hear him better. "It looks to me like you're on the wrong side of the river!"

Realizing his mistake, the man kicked at the water in frustration, forcing Anna to have to stifle a snigger. She was certain that Evelyn wouldn't have appreciated her laughter at this moment in time.

"We should get moving. We should try to get to the nearest town by sunrise," Anna said in a serious voice which surprised her siblings. They rarely caught her being serious; she would always be either humorous or angry.

"That's a good idea. There's a village not too far from here," Rick replied, grabbing his bag again, and Anna's, much to her silent frustration, and set off. Jonathan seemed to notice her chagrin but said nothing to help her, as she stalked O'Connell, mumbling threats under her breath. This was becoming a routine, Jonathan thought, his sister stalking after O'Connell after he does something to annoy her.

When they arrived in the village, it was daylight, and market stalls were opened and children were running around, playing without a care in the world. The women of the village saw the group arriving, and rushed over to Evelyn and Anna, pulling them away and hurrying them to a tent where they could get dressed. They weren't covered up enough to be seen by men, especially not in this village. Anna managed to persuade them to clothe them for half the price they would normally do, so they had enough money for other expenses, but she was confused as to how easy it actually was. When she asked an elderly looking woman, as the others began to dress Evelyn and Anna, as to why they were so willing to let them pay half for the clothes, the woman's reply confused her.

"We would do anything for you, _Nebetia_ ," she had replied in Arabic.

Anna stared at the woman, wondering why she had called her Nebetia, but soon her attention was brought to the beautiful clothes she was now wearing. Evelyn had been given a tightly fitted gold Bedouin dress, which suited her rather nicely. Anna, however, was dressed in a beautiful black crop top that stopped just beneath her breasts, and a matching skirt that flowed down to her ankles, with a slit all the way up to her upper thigh on the right side. A thin, see-through, black veil was tied around her face and draped atop her head as well, as she slipped her dainty feet into long black boots that ended below her knees. Anna strapped her knife holster back onto her thigh, the skirt hid it from view, and she decided to simply hold her guns for now.  
Evelyn and Anna thanked the women and left the tent, finding that Rick and Jonathan had already purchased the camels and had one for each of them. The two men pulled the animals behind them, not seeing the women yet and continued their conversation.

"You probably could've got them for free. All you had to do was give him one of your sisters," Anna heard Rick say, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes. Awfully tempting, wasn't it?"

That was the moment Rick noticed the two women approaching them. First, he saw Evelyn and he noted how prettier she was when she wasn't moaning or whining about losing all of her belongings. And then his eyes lapsed onto Annabella. He was stunned for a moment. She looked like a vision in an all black outfit that fit her perfectly and subtly accentuated her curves and he noted just how in shape she was when he noticed her toned stomach that was on show. He caught her smiling at his stare, but he carried on regardless.

"Awfully," Rick finally replied, patting the camel closest to him on the nose.

Annabella carried on walking towards him, smirking. She knew that her new outfit had not escaped his notice, and was quite enjoying the attention she was receiving from him.

"Aren't you glad you didn't follow through with bartering me away, O'Connell?" she asked, as she took one of the reins from him, and expertly climbed onto the camel. Rick shook his head at her playful flirting, and strapped her duffel bag on the camel's back.

"If I tried, you'd probably kill me, so yeah."

"I think you're trying to paint me as a violent person, Mr. O'Connell! And I resent that very—" Annabella cut herself off with her own laughter, and Rick laughed along with her. After last night, they both knew she had a violent streak. "Oh, it feels so good to laugh."

"I like it. Your laugh. It's a, uh, it's a good laugh," Rick complimented her, stumbling over his words. She could tell that in spite of his good looks, and charm, he was still unsure when it came to showing affection or trying to compliment a woman.

"Why thank you, Mr. O'Connell. It was my mother's," she joked, watching him as he mounted his own camel, not speaking again until his camel had risen to it's feet. She looked around, and saw that her siblings and the smelly prison warden were all waiting to set off. "Well let's get moving. We've got to beat Mr. O'Connell's friend and those bloody cowboys to Hamunaptra or I'll never forgive myself."

As if sensing she was ready to move, the camel set off at a brisk pace, leaving the others behind listening to Anna's laughter and racing to catch up with her.


	6. To Hamunaptra

Jonathan was beginning to annoy Annabella.. They had been riding for hours and she was extremely bored at this point; her only entertainment was discussing weapons and fighting styles with their American folk as they rode side by side. Evelyn was just behind them, followed Jonathan, then the prison warden last. She found it quite entertaining how her sister got all excited by just discussing weaponry. Annabella was noticeably enjoying her conversation, but Jonathan was bringing her to a boiling point.

It was hot, not even humid,  dry, and there was nothing around but sand, which gets everywhere; the last thing Annabella wanted to hear— for, probably, the twentieth time, might she add— was Jonathan complaining about his abhor for camels.

"Never did like camels." Anna sighed, and bit her tongue so she wouldn't shout at her brother as he began his rant again. "Filthy buggers. They smell, they bite, they spit. Disgusting."

"I think they're adorable," Evelyn said, leaning forward in her seat to rub the top of her camel's head. Rick saw Anna's sour face, and decided to tease her.

"What' do you think of these fellas, Anna?" he said, shooting a cheeky grin in her direction. She narrowed her eyes at him, but couldn't help smiling at him, a hint of mischievousness in her eyes.

"Though they aren't exactly the most wondrous things on the planet, they aren't necessarily hateful, therefore I shall remain prosaic about them... though I must admit, they are kinda cute," she replied, diplomatically, smirking at him when she didn't give him the reaction he had wanted.

The warden began to sing an Arabic song, spitting in between verses, and Annabella began to wish that he had ended up with the Americans instead.

Night soon began to show, and Anna fought with sleep, evidently winning. She had tied her brother and sister's camels to hers so that they would follow on as they slept, leaning against each other. The prison warden was snoring loudly behind them, and O'Connell and Anna were the only ones awake.

"You should get some sleep." Rick's voice startled her. It had been extremely quiet up until then.

"Nope." As if on cue, she stifle a yawn.

"Why not?" he questioned, earning himself a raised eyebrow.

"It's discourteous to sleep and leave you on watch alone. Besides, I believe  _you're_  the one who needs the rest more," she retorted.

"Stop being stubborn and just sleep already," Rick snapped at her.

She glared at him in return, gritting her teeth. "Last time someone was persistent with me, they got shot in the shoulder so don't push it."

That actually shut him up and made him look away. He would glance at her every now and then. The curiosity got the best of him when he found her fumbling with something that was hanging around her neck. It was a necklace Nate had given her on their first adventure together. She had just been debuting her career as an archaeologist, though thanks to her American friend, Elena Fisher, she managed to snatch up the post of a temporary journalist and so she had called herself when she met Nathan.

Nathan had been seeking the lost treasure of El Dorado, with the help of his mentor, Victor Sullivan. Anna had confronted Nate when he recovered the coffin of the explorer Sir Francis Drake, his ancestor, from the ocean floor off the coast of Panama, using coordinates inscribed on a ring he had in his possession. Anna then, being one to seek thrill, joined them on their quest along with Elena. It was when they were on their way to a southern tropic island in the Pacific where they got separated, and Nathan and Anna had been captured by a dangerous and very competitive treasure hunter who had hired the services of mercenaries led by Atoq Navarro, an archaeologist with knowledge of the statue, and Indonesian pirates led by Eddy Raja, an old rival of Nate. Little did he know, the man and Navarro were also Anna's rivals. They had quite an argument about it before confessing their feelings towards each other.

"That looks... precious," O'Connell said, snapping Anna out of her reverie.

She looked at him, puzzled for a moment, then glanced around for a moment to recall where she was and who she was with. That happened often when she let her flashbacks take over her. After recalling her location and current situation, she replayed O'Connell's comment and looked down at her hand, just realizing she was fumbling with her necklace.

She looked back up at him, only to find him staring at her. She smiled a small smile and chuckled.

"A... friend gave it to me. It was on our first...  _quest_  together."

He gave her a curious look. "You were looking for something?"

She was silent for a moment before she grinned and nodded. "Yes. My friend Nathan Drake, who is a direct descendant of Sir Francis Drake. He and I were looking for the lost treasure of El Dorado, with his mentor, Victor Sullivan, and my friend Elena Fisher. It was quite a thrill for a first quest. It was what pushed me into becoming more of an explorer than a just simple archaeologist."

"It must have been some thrill," Rick commented, noticing her grin.

"It was. Not as much as my last adventure, but it still had its own thrill," Anna replied with a shrug.

They were silent for a moment before O'Connell spoke up again. "So your...  _friend_ , Nathan... you and him?"

Annabella gave him a puzzled look then chuckled and shook her head when she understood what he meant.

"Nate and I were close," she started in a soft voice. "And at a time we were an..."

"Item?" O'Connell offered, making her chuckle.

"Yes, I guess you can say that," she said with a soft laugh. "We were really close especially after we survived very dangerous moments like the wars we fought in our last quest..."

Rick looked at her with wide eyes. "You fought in a war?"

Annabella looked at him with a twinkle in her eyes as she shushed him, a small grin on her lips. "Yes, but don't tell Evy. She might be the youngest, but she has a knack for acting like a mother when she's worried. It's quite embarrassing... and annoying," she said, her soft British accent overpowering the American one she had acquired through her years with Nathan.

Rick chuckled, shaking his head before looking at her again, waiting for her to continue.

"We fought in four wars in the last year."

"Four wars?!"

"Shh!" she shushed him, holding back her laughter. "Yes, four."

They were silent for a moment before Anna continued. "The first was in Borneo."

"On your last quest?"

Annabella hummed, nodding her head. "Nate and I stole a Mongolian oil lamp which belonged to Marco Polo from an Istanbul museum, with a former associate, Harry Flynn, who turned out to be quite the backstabbing arse, and Chloe Frazer, another backstabbing idiot. The lamp contained flammable blue resin, which lights a map that shows Marco Polo's fleet shipwrecked in Borneo, carrying the Cintamani Stone from Shambhala. We infiltrated a camp in Borneo, where we discovered that the stone remained in Shambhala, having never actually been taken. A tomb contained the remains of Polo's crew, where Nate and I found a Tibet phurba and deduced that its carrier would gain passage to Shambhala through a temple in Nepal. Nate, his former mentor Sully, and I escaped after being found by Flynn and his men."

"Small war?"

Anna chuckled. "Very small," she confirmed. "Sully had backed out after that... I don't blame him. The worst started coming when we got Nepal. You know, against mercenaries and all."

"Heartless."

"Heartless," Anna agreed. "It was somewhat frightening when they came up against us with weapons and armor we had never seen before. It's a wonder how I'm still alive."

"Wait, you said this Flynn guy was an ass."

Anna nodded. "Well... turned out he was never really on our side."

"He used you."

"Yep."

"What about the Frazer girl."

Anna sighed, absentmindedly petting her camel's neck. "I thought I could trust her... I thought she was our friend. It was hard to tell throughout the quest seeing as she kept switching sides, but I finally saw where she came from."

"So what was she really?"

"More of a... shadow," Anna replied.

"What do you mean?" O'Connell asked, confused.

"I mean, she only made them believe she was on their side to survive. When it came to Nate and I, she was neutral. She helped us, and helped them, but at the same time she didn't help them because she gave them but false information to win us enough time to get to there first. She stayed in the shadows from both sides, avoiding any possible spotlight, to stay alive."

"So... she was a double backstabber."

Annabella let out a soft laugh. "I guess you can say that. I might've disliked her for that whole time... I mean, she was seriously confusing, and that's coming from me. But I'm glad we left on good terms... I'm not one to hate."

Rick gave her a soft look. "I kind of realized."

"Am I that easy to read?" she mused.

He laughed. "You're not an open book, I'll give you that," he admitted. "I mean, looking at you, with all the guns and the knives— I'd just think you had it rough, but I honestly would've never guessed you were in wars."

Anna smiled softly. "Honestly... I'm not one for fighting," she admitted. "I actually don't like violence, but when you face such events, it's kind of hard to just go back, you know?"

"Yeah, I do."

Annabella looked down at her hands, feeling her lips curl up into a small amused smile. "You know... I was actually a librarian once."

Rick looked at her, shocked. "You? A librarian? I thought that was only your sister."

Anna laughed. "I'm older— obviously I've done things before her, and more. I was a librarian.  _Then_  I became an archaeologist."

"..."

"What?" she asked him, looking at him, amused.

"I don't know... it just seems..."

"Unearthly? Uncanny? Unreal?" she offered, internally laughing as she only gave him words that were synonyms to each other.

"Very."

Annabella laughed. "You'll get me in time, Mr. O'Connell."

He didn't know why, but he actually liked it when she called him that. He was usually annoyed when people called him by his surname, but when it came from her lips, he didn't mind at all.

"So, Borneo was small, Nepal was the start point of the highway to hell, what about the other two?" he asked.

He watched as Annabella's smile slowly faded into a frown. "Chloe, Elena and her partner Jeff, Nate and I reached the temple in Nepal, where he and I used the phurba to discover that Shambhala lied in the Himalayas. Just as we were about to leave..."

"You were ambushed," Rick guessed.

"How did you know?"

"I didn't, but that's always the story."

Anna shrugged, knowing it was true. "Jeff was shot in the ambush. Chloe insisted on leaving him behind, but Nate, Elena and I helped him, and the next thing we knew, we were caught by Zoran Lazarević, a former Soviet intelligence operative turned warlord, who had been after the stone for years. Chloe switched sides to protect her cover, while Lazarević killed Jeff and got the Shambhala location from Nate."

"But you escaped."

Anna smiled a small mischievous smile. "Well, I'm here, aren't I?"

Rick chuckled. "Yeah," he replied before motioning her to continue.

"Elena was skeptical about helping Chloe, but ultimately followed Nathan and I. Together, we caught up with Lazarević's train on a stolen jeep. I jumped onto it and, of course, Nate followed, and, together, we fought through to find Chloe, who refused to join us since Nate compromised us earlier, before Flynn arrived and shot Nate in the abdomen, and me in the leg and arm. We got cornered by his men, and since we were basically in a  _'kill or be_   _killed'_  situation, we decided to risk our lives and caused an explosion which derailed half of the train over a cliff."

Rick stared at her in shock. "Half of the train?"

"Yeah... we obviously survived. I was ready to give up seeing as we were on a rather snowy mountain and I was only dressed in a pair of ripped jodhpurs and a camisole until we recovered the phurba in the wreckage. It gave me the courage to keep going, but... then we fell unconscious. We awoke in a Tibetan village, where we reunited with Elena and were introduced to an old German explorer, Karl Schäfer."

"So you were in Tibet."

"Yes. But once wide awake, we were pretty much dead set on retiring."

"Didn't go as planned?"

"Nope. How did you know?"

"I didn't, but that's always the story."

Annabella chuckled. "I guess you can say the thrill was too tempting to overlook."

"What made you keep going? Other than the thrill."

"Schäfer managed to convince us to continue our quest and sent us and villager named Tenzin after the remains of his failed Ahnenerbe expedition for the stone decades ago."

"The remains... you mean corpses?"

Anna grimaced. "Yeah. We traveled through ice caves, fought off strange monsters, and discovered that Schäfer had killed his men to protect the world from the Cintamani stone."

"And since nothing was there but the corpses and the monsters you found, you decided to head back and that's when all hell broke loose."

"How did you know?"

"I didn't, but that's always the story."

"We returned to fight off an attack by Lazarević's men on the village, but Schäfer was kidnapped with the phurba. Elena, Nate and I followed Lazarević's convoy to a monastery, where a mortally wounded Schäfer died after warning Nate to destroy the stone before Lazarević could obtain it."

"The stone was protected because it was extremely powerful and dangerous especially if it fell into the wrong hands."

Anna looked at him surprised. "How did you know?"

Rick shrugged. "I didn't, but that's always the story. And you had to stop Lazar... whatever his name was before he found it, but he did and it turned him into some sort of invincible mutant."

Anna looked at him, shocked. "Yes... well, sort of... how did you know?"

"I didn't, but that's always the story," he said before motioning her to continue. Even though he guessed the point already, he preferred to listen because it was much more interesting when every detail was said— he could picture it all more easily in his head then.

"Nate and I found and reconciled with Chloe, who gave us the phurba. Elena, Nate and I then unlocked the secret passage to Shambhala underneath the monastery, but—" 

"Lazar... whatever cornered you and forced you to open the gate to Shambhala for him."

"How did you know?"

"I didn't, but that's always the story."

"Well, we opened it, but then, we were all attacked by the same monsters. Lazarević killed them and we discovered that they were really human guardians of Shambhala. After opening the gate, another wave of guardians attacked, allowing Elena, Chloe, Nate and I to escape. Then, in the main temple of Shambhala, we discovered that the Cintamani stone was in fact a giant amber of the blue resin embedded in a prehistoric tree of life."

"Tree of life?"

Anna nodded optimistically. "The Tree of Life, Life Tree, or Irminsul,  _was_  a huge tree in Shambhala that created the blue resin that granted anyone who consumed it near-invincibility."

"Was?"

Anna shrugged. "It was destroyed."

"Ah."

"Yeah..." Anna chuckled before going on.

"So... the true prize was the blue sap of the tree, which made its consumer nearly invincible..."

Anna nodded. "That basically explained the mutated guardians. Flynn, who was quite wounded, then ambushed us with a grenade, killing himself and seriously wounding Elena. Nate and I had to leave her in Chloe's care and set off to confront Lazarević. We arrived just as Lazarević drank the tree's sap, which rendered him nearly indestructible."

"Nearly?"

"Nearly." Annabella nodded. "Nate mistook the Cintamani Stone as the source of that great power when really, the Stone was simply a massive piece of amber."

"So, basically it was just a jewel that seemed important due to its legends, but really it was just an ornament?"

"Basically," Anna confirmed. "But being the idiot he is, Nathan forcefully destroyed the Tree, its offspring, and all of Shambhala by shooting the pool of resin under the tree and the resin on its roots."

"All of Shambhala was destroyed?!" Rick asked in disbelief.

"Hard to believe, I know, but it wasn't exactly avoidable," Anna explained. "So, detonating the pockets of resin in the tree, Nate and I defeated Lazarević and left him to be killed by the guardians. We then reunited with Chloe and Elena and we escaped as the city crumbled under the explosions."

There was a moment of silence as O'Connell let the story sink into his head. He was undeniably dazed. He looked at the woman before him and found it hard to believe that she had gone through all of that, yet he still believed her. How could he not? She had all the scars to prove it.

"You never went back?"

"Well... we got back to the Tibetan village and that's where we paid our respects at Schäfer's grave before bidding our farewells... Sully met us there and stayed for a while to look after Elena, Chloe went back to America..."

"What about your buddy Nate?"

Anna bit her lip then grimaced sheepishly. "I may or may not have left him to fend for himself in a hospital in London."

Rick looked at her with wide eyes before bursting into a fit of silent laughter. "You didn't!"

Anna laughed too. "I did and I feel horrible, especially after all we've been through."

It was silent for a moment before O'Connell spoke up again, eyeing her curiously. "Do you still... um... feel anything for him?"

Annabella was silent for a moment before she sighed. "A bit... the feelings are still lingering, but I could never see myself with him. I mean, yes, we were very close, and there was a time where I actually loved him, and maybe I somewhat still do, but not in the same way... not in the way he would want me to."

Rick fought back a grin. "So you're basically single."

Anna grinned, letting out a small laugh. "Single and proud."

It wasn't long after the storytelling when Anna finally fell asleep, her head bobbing from side to side before it rested on Rick's shoulder. He looked down at her, noting how peaceful she looked when she was asleep, something he hadn't seen when she was awake. He still found it hard to wrap his head around the fact that this woman fought— she was a warrior and a survivor. And he knew that she was currently worried about the danger in Hamunaptra, but not for herself, for her brother and sister. He smiled slightly, before nudging her upright so she didn't tumble off her camel. He was being far too considerate with this woman, more than he had in his life.

The next day, they spotted several dots on the horizon ahead of them. And as the dots moved closer, they began to resemble the all-too familiar shapes of the Americans and Beni. Anna suddenly felt a buzz of excitement. This is when the adventure kicked in. Crossing the desert was the boring part, until this last leg. This would be fun, she thought, as the Americans came more into focus, and Rick and Beni approached each other on their camels.

Anna raised an eyebrow at O'Connell as he pulled his camel round and stared out across the endless horizon. He just gestured for her to do the same, and was surprised when she did as he asked as the two parties come to a stop a hundred feet apart. Beni did likewise while the Americans looked puzzled.

"Good morning, my friend!" Beni greeted. Rick didn't reply to Beni. He simply nodded then stared ahead of him, occasionally throwing glances towards Annabella, who always seemed to return them.

"What the hell are we doin'?" Daniels questioned.

"Patience, my good sahib, patience," Beni replied.

Henderson looked over at O'Connell. "First one to the city, O'Connell! Five hundred! Cash bucks!"

O'Connell and Beni just stared out at the flat nothingness. Annabella, Evelyn and Jonathan shared a look. And then, the sun started to rise in the distance, breaking the flat horizon.

"Get ready," Rick said. Annabella could feel the suspense and the majesty of the moment.

"For what?" Evelyn asked, puzzled.

"We're about to be shown the way," Anna replied, immediately understanding.

Far off to the right, a huge shape began to rise with the sun. A volcano. O'Connell and Beni watch it, expressionless. Daniels, Henderson and Burns shared a look before the three of them let out a synchronized "HEYA!"

The Americans took off, racing towards the rising volcano.

"SEE YA THERE, O'CONNELL!" Daniels shouted.

Evelyn and Jonathan give O'Connell anxious, sarcastic looks.

"Ah, begging your pardon, but shouldn't we be going?" Jonathan said.

"After all, you rode us night and day to win that bet," Evelyn pointed out.

O'Connell didn't say a word, staring hard.

Beni watches the Americans and spat into the sand. "Fools," he muttered, shaking his head.

And then suddenly, the volcano shifted across the horizon, passing across the sin as it went. It was a mirage. The Americans crashed their horses to a stop and raced the other way, after the volcano. Annabella, Evelyn and Jonathan smiled, amazed. The volcano shifted again, floating across the watery horizon. The Americans crashed to a stop again and chased after the volcano, all three of them confused and cursing.

O'Connell and Beni just stared, waiting.

The volcano shifted again, and the Americans crashed to a stop again. Burns was thrown from his horse; Henderson angrily ripped his hat off and chucked it to the ground; and Daniels just cursed as they give up the chase. The volcano came to a stop on the far left of the horizon. The Americans were on the far right. Nothing moved. A beat. And then O'Connell grinned. So did Beni. They shared a look, and then swatted their camels and raced away. Everybody else hauls-ass after them. O'Connell and Beni were neck-and-neck, and then Annabella and Evelyn came galloping up, hair flying in the wind. Beni took out his camel whip and started whipping O'Connell. Trying to knock him off his camel.

Once.  _CRACK!_  Twice.  _CRACK!_  But on the third try, O'Connell grab the whip and jerked Beni off his camel.

"Now that serves you right." Evelyn laughed as Beni slammed to the ground and tumbled.

Annabella, Evelyn and O'Connell raced across the desert. The Carnahan sisters had never felt so alive... well, mostly Evelyn.. Anna had had a hell lot of thrill to last a lifetime, but she never said she was stopping yet.

Evelyn found herself grinning like a Cheshire cat— she understood now why her sister loved seeking for thrill in her life. What's life without an adventure. Annabella couldn't help but laugh— she had been on a long break since her last quest and she missed the freedom, the thrill. O'Connell grinned, glancing every few at her; he likes this girl. Beni stumbled to his feet, then quickly danced out of the way as Jonathan and all the other riders stampeded past him.

Rick soon found himself in a Carnahan sister sandwich, as Anna and Evelyn rode up on either side of him. Annabella smiled at him, and Rick smiled back, impressed by not only her riding skills but her sister's. Anna and Evelyn both spurred the camels on, and quickly overtook O'Connell too. They rode together, faster than before, towards the city, hearing Jonathan whooping and hollering encouragements behind them.

"Whoo!" Anna whooped in joy, as she and Evelyn rode up the gateway together and into the city. It was exactly what she had imagined it would be. All stone pillars and sand, but there was so much more mystery to it than that. Both sisters grinned at each other, sharing an excited hug.

They were finally there.


	7. The City of the Dead

The Americans took up most of the space when they all settled, so Rick and his companions simply settled at the base of one of the pillars, before they started up on their work.

O'Connell, Annabella, Evelyn, Jonathan and the warden were working next to a narrow crevice, which weaved it's way through the ruins. Rick tied a rope around a pillar and threw the rest of the coils into the crevice, about to rappel down. Jonathan bent over to have a look, his rear hit something, making him yelp and back away. It was the decrepit face of Anubis.

"That thing gives me the creeps," Jonathan commented, shivering under the look of the statue.

"Be nice. That thing saved my life," O'Connell replied.

Annabella was positioning ancient mirrors along the crevice. "That ' _thing_ ' gets me excited," she said with a grin.

O'Connell scoffed. "The things that get you excited," he muttered sarcastically.

Rolling her eyes, she said, "That's the statue of Anubis. Its legs go deep underground."

Evelyn nodded excitedly. "According to Bembridge Scholars, inside the statue of Anubis was a secret compartment, perhaps containing The Book Of The Living," she said as Anna helped her push one of the ancient mirrors into the ground.

Annabella looked over at Jonathan to see him cleaning the mirror. "Jonathan, you're meant to catch the sun with that."

Evelyn walked over to help Jonathan position the mirror as O'Connell strode over to Anna, grabbing the rolled up pack that was underneath his arm. He stopped just in front of her and she smiled up at him as she continued to try and get the right angle.

"So, uh, what are these old mirrors for?"

" _Ancient_  mirrors," Anna corrected him. "It's an ancient Egyptian trick. You'll see."

Rick nodded before pulling the pack out from behind his back.

"Here, this is for you." He held it out to her, and she smiled up at him, but still managed to look confused as she took it from him. "Go ahead. It's something I borrowed off our American brethren. I thought you might like it. You might need it... for when you're..."

He stepped backwards, miming a chiseling action with his hands before he noticed the warden watching his awkwardness. Anna smiled a small smile at him as he tried giving the warden a menacing glare while asking him what he was looking at before she looked down at the slightly heavy cloth in her hands and slowly opened it. It was a bunch of archaeological field tools. She grinned, mentally notifying herself to share them with her sister and thank the man who gave them to her, later..

Anna glanced up, ignoring the warden complaints about bugs, and watched their American comrade swinging down into the cavern they'd located towards the side of Anubis. Soon after, they all followed O'Connell down. Anna had gone down first, and Rick had helped her off the rope. They shared a smile up before moving apart so that Evelyn could come down. Jonathan and the warden came down last.

"What is that God-awful stench?" he asked before he sniffed close to the warden as he climbed down the rope and his eyes widened with realization. "Oh."

"Do you realize, we are standing inside a room that no one has entered in over three thousand years?" Evelyn questioned as the two sisters and Rick glanced about the room.

The warden shrugged. "Who cares? I don't see no treasure."

Anna rolled her eyes. "We care," she muttered, though it was so low, nobody heard her.

"You're welcome to my share of the spider webs," O'Connell said.

Anna made her way over to one of the ancient mirrors and brushed away the cobwebs with her hands, something she knew that her younger sister wouldn't do unless she was wearing gloves or something to protect herself; she was a hygiene freak. Funny for a librarian who works with old artifacts.

Annabella finished cleaning it off, and then tilted it forwards.

" _'And then... there was light'_ ," she said as all the mirrors began to reflect light into the room.

"Hey, that is a neat trick," Rick said, making Anna smile slightly before she realized where they were.

She gasped. "Eves! It's a Sah-Netjer," she exclaimed. Anna gazed about the room, shivering as a strange feeling of déjà-vu overtook her. She frowned, trying to shrug it off, because it was insane, completely impossible. She was in a room that hadn't been entered in centuries, she shouldn't feel as though she had walked through it merely the previous day.

"What?" Rick questioned.

"A preparation room," Evelyn explained as she walked forwards, taking the tool kit her sister offered to her without questioning where she had gotten it from.

"Preparation for what?"

"For entering the afterlife," Anna answered Rick's question, putting on a playful, creepy voice as she did so. He eyed her, and then pulled out one of his pistols as his other hand gripped his lit torch tighter.

Jonathan walked up to him and gently nudged him, "Mummies, my good son, this is where they made the mummies." Anna headed down a narrow passageway, her sister at her heels. The others followed.

They walked forwards until they reach a passageway. Rick went down it first, and Anna followed, her two pistols drawn, with Evelyn, Jonathan and the warden following closely behind. Each man had a lit torch, and the girls stayed between them so they were in constant light. They all paused when they heard loud skittering noises, with each member of the party practically spinning around to locate the source of the noise. Eventually the sound faded and Anna breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't care what the noise had been, as long as it hadn't been spiders.

"What was that?" Jonathan questioned.

"Sounds like... bugs," Rick said, and Anna felt the urge to shoot him somewhere. Why did he say that? Now Evelyn is going to repeat it and the warden is going to start complaining.

"He said bugs," Evelyn repeated to the two men behind her, which successfully freaked the prison warden out.

Three.

Two.

One...

"What do you mean, bugs? I hate bugs!" he whined.

And there you go.

Anna felt the same urge to shoot him too.

It got darker and darker as they slowly moved further down the tunnel, Rick being as cautious as ever as they came into a new room. Anna was just as cautious as he was, her eyes scanning what they could catch in the dark before shifting her gaze downward to watch her step in case there were any flesh eating creatures as she remembered reading about them being in such environments.

"The legs of Anubis," Evelyn stated, and Annabella had a bad feeling spread through her as she gazed at the bottom half of the statue.

_Nebetia_.

Anna's head instantly snapped up as the name reached her ears. She frowned and warily glanced around, looking for the voice again. Why did it sound so familiar? And why was she filled with anger and sadness when she heard it? She decided to ignore it, but she felt like something was watching her. Waiting like a predator.

"The secret compartment should be hidden somewhere inside here," Evelyn finished.

And almost as if that were a cue, all five people heard a noise and then some murmuring that set them on edge. They leaned against the base of Anubis' statue, with Rick and Anna at the end, Evelyn now holding Rick's torch, both clambering rounds into their weapons. Slowly Rick and Anna jumped out, and were greeted by loud shouts of surprise. The Americans were pointing guns at them, but looked relieved to see it was them.

"Ya scared the bejeezus out of us, O'Connell," Henderson said,as he lowered his two pistols.

"Likewise," Rick replied as he, Anna, Jonathan and the warden all lowered their weapons.

Mr. Burns, however, spotted his tool kit in Evelyn's arms and stepped forward. "Hey! That's my tool kit."

"No, I don't think so," Anna said as all four raised their weapons and the Americans followed suit. Burns backed away.

"Okay," he said as he stared down the barrels of O'Connell's two pistols nervously. "Perhaps I was mistaken."

"You undeniably were," Anna said in a sickly sweet voice, fake smile plastered on her face.

"Why don't you put the guns down before you hurt yourself." Anna glared at the man who had spoken, twisting her body so her guns were trained on him. Her glare phased into a cold smile as she tilted her head to the side, her gaze almost as deadly as her voice.

"Just for the fun of it, would you like to say that again?" she asked, making everyone shiver. Her voice was calm, soft and velvety, but the way it came out, with the look she was giving him, it was quite frightening as it held a threatening edge. "Do you even know who I am?

They all shook their heads and slightly jumped when she let out a small humorless laugh. "Why don't you ask you friend, Daniels, over there." She nodded her head over to the said man whom everyone turned to look at.

"Annabella Carnahan," he mumbled, looking away. It was too low for them to hear and that made her smile widen.

"What was that?" she taunted.

He groaned. "Annabella Carnahan," he repeated more loudly. And everyone's eyes, except those who came with Anna, widened in recognition. Rick gave her a curious look. Yes, she may have told him about her last adventure and such, but he didn't know exactly why her name suddenly frightened their rivals.

Anna chuckled. "That's right, and you know me," she confirmed with a nod. "And you know what happens when you mess with me, so I advise you not to bark another dogmatic remark about me, even less of my sister, or any other woman ever." She paused, smirking. "The last time someone said something as such, they...  _disappeared_." Their eyes widened, only making her smirk widen as she knew they knew that she meant she killed them in a very silent way, for thus she was known for.

"Don't mess with me," she repeated, lowering her gun as she knew they wouldn't dare ignore her advice.

Evelyn quickly jumped in with her diplomatic tendencies so finish off Anna's dark and subtle peace offering. "Have a nice day, gentlemen. We have a lot of work to be getting along with."

"Push off! This is our dig site," Burns said, making Anna sighed.

"Did you not hear the rather awkward-leading speech I just gave?" Anna asked, as Evelyn said, "We got here first." And then everyone raised their weapons again.

"This here's our statue... friend," Daniels said.

"I don't see your name written on it... pal," Rick replied, and Anna was almost choking on the testosterone flying around as she participated in the near all-male stand off.

"Yes, well there's only five of you, and fifteen of me," Beni said, sounding quite happy he had the better odds. "Your odds are not so great, O'Connell."

"I've had worse," Rick said, aiming one of his pistols threateningly at Beni. O'Connell and the Carnahan sisters raised a disbelieving eyebrow at Jonathan at what he said next.

"Me, too," he said.

"For goodness' sake, let's be nice, children," Evelyn said, being the voice of reason. She stepped in between Rick and Anna, and looked from the Americans back to their guide. Henderson lowered his guns; he wasn't all that comfortable pointing a gun at the lady who was armed, but this one didn't have any protection herself. "If we're going to play together, we must learn to share. There are other places to dig."

Rick nodded and holstered his pistols, but not before throwing Beni a glare. Anna only fully lowered her once she noticed the disparaging look her sister gave, and she rolled her eyes and stepped away from the Americans. She moved next to her sister so she could whisper to her.

"This up could end badly, you know," Anna warned in a low voice for only her sister to hear.

" Anna, please. I know what I'm doing," Evelyn replied. Anna sighed, but nodded all the same, winning a smile from her sister as she took her hand and led her to the next site they would dig with their companions.

"According to my calculations," Evelyn started once they had reached their destination and gotten to work. "We should be right under the statue. We'll come up right between his legs..." She paused for a moment and blushed, laughing slightly. "Oh, my."

"And when those dirty Yanks go to sleep—" Jonathan looked at Rick. "No offense."

Rick looked at the Carnahan man, rolling his eyes before he focused back on the task at hand. Anna swung her hammer at the ceiling, chipping some of the stone away, wondering why her brother wasn't doing this instead of her. She was the woman, not him.

"None taken." Rick said, gritting his teeth as he took another swing.

"— We'll sneak up and steal that book right out from under them," Jonathan finished, handing Rick the hammer he was waiting for, and took the larger one from him. Anna dropped hers beside Jonathan and accepted one of the smaller digging tools from Evelyn, then began scraping away at some of the debris above her head.

"And you're sure you can find the secret compartment?" Rick questioned, looking at Anna for the answer as he stuck the claw of the hammer up into the roof above their heads.

"Yes, if their Egyptologist hasn't already found it," she said, shrugging. Rick nodded, slightly grunting as he tried to pull the hammer free again. Sand was starting to trickle down which could only be a good sign. He covered his face with a small scarf as the sand began to rain down in thicker streams.

"I say, what's our smelly little friend got himself up to?" Jonathan asked after he'd scanned the room searching for the prison warden.

"Hm... I don't know. I imagine he hasn't gone far," Anna said as she sat down on the stand she'd been balancing on. "Let's take a break."

"So let me get this straight, they ripped out your guts and they stuffed them in jars," Rick said, though it was more of a question than a statement. He was needing confirmation.

"Then they'd take out your heart as well. Oh, and do you know how they took out your brains?" Evelyn questioned, and when Rick shook his head, Anna grinned and took over from her younger sister. She'd get more enjoyment out of it.

"Anna... Evy, I don't think we need to know this," Jonathan remarked as he used one of the sledgehammers to practice his golf swing. Jonathan was always the more squeamish of the three Carnahans, and Evelyn and Anna loved to tease him about that fact.

"They'd take a sharp, red-hot poker, stick it up your nose, scramble things about a bit and then rip it our through your nostrils," Anna explained the method, not realizing that her hand was doing the action with the chisel she was holding. Then she looked at Rick and saw his hand hovering over his nose, which set her off sniggering.

"That must hurt," Rick said after she'd stopped laughing at him.

"It's mummification. You're dead when they do this," Evelyn replied as Anna patted his hand that was resting on his knee, still somewhat giggling at him, but managing to try and reassure him at the same time.

"Still..." Jonathan trailed off.

"Yeah... that'd bring you back to life," Rick pointed out.

Anna chuckled and rolled her eyes as Evelyn sighed and muttered, "You two are worse than a couple of schoolboys."

"For the record, if I don't make it out of here, don't put me down for mummification," Rick said, looking towards Anna as he did so.

"Do you want me to put that down in writing?" Anna teased him.

Almost a second later, she jumped back as a large, heavy rectangular box fell from the ceiling after Jonathan whacked it with the hammer. Of course, it would be Jonathan to nearly bring down the roof on top of them. Anna rose shakily to her feet, not knowing that Rick was behind her, ready to steady her. Evelyn was coughing as there was a lot of dust and sand up in the air before they both realized what it was.

"Oh, my God. It's a... it's a sarcophagus," Evelyn said.

"Why would they bury someone in the ceiling?" Rick asked, looking between the Carnahan sisters.

Anna tilted her head back and looked up to see the gaping hole where the sarcophagus had dropped down from. She could just make out the base of the statue of Anubis, and then she looked back down at the sarcophagus in front of her.

"They didn't, they buried at the foot of Anubis," Anna informed her sister and the two men. Evelyn glanced up before she shared a look with her elder sister.

"He was either someone of great importance," she deduced as she stared across at her sister.

"Or he did something very naughty," Anna added.

O'Connell looked between the two women, who were wearing the exact same curious expression, before he turned to Jonathan. "Are they always like this?" he questioned.

"Yeah, but you'll get used to it, old chap!" Jonathan said, grinning at the American.

"Are they twins or something?"

"I'm older than Eves, here, by two years," Anna replied, not looking up at the pair as she began dusting off the sand and debris with one of the brushes in the tool kit. Rick helped her, blowing and wiping the dust away.

"Well? Who is it?" Jonathan asked, walking round to see the hieroglyphic that they had uncovered. Anna did the same, and she translated it and told him before Evelyn could even open her mouth to speak.

" _'He That Shall Not Be Named'_ ," Anna read aloud.

Rick, brows furrowed, bent his head and blew the sand away from what he thought was the lock. He pointed at it a couple of times, shaking his hand as he did so.

"There's some sort of lock here. You say these thing's are made of granite with a steel interior?" O'Connell said.

"Quarried granite with a cobalt lining," Evelyn replied as Anna ran her fingers around the shape of it curiously.

"Whoever is in here sure wasn't getting out," Jonathan commented, eyeing the lock as well.

"No kidding. It'll take a month to crack into this thing without a key," Rick informed them. "And I don't have a month," he added, and Anna sighed.  _A key?_

"A key?" Evelyn voiced Anna's thought, and they stared at each other, both realizing at the same time.

"A key!" they exclaimed in unison.

"A key! That's what he was talking about!" Evelyn continued, bending down and digging into Jonathan's pack.

She rooted around for a few moments before she found her prize and held it aloft slightly to showcase it to her brother and O'Connell. Anna grinned at her sister. Sometimes, it amazed her how in sync they were at times, and sometimes it annoyed her. Her sister knew her far too well and somehow knew what she was thinking even at the most inappropriate of times.

"Who was talking about what?" Rick questioned, not understanding the thought processes of the two women. He looked at Jonathan who looked equally confused.

"The man on the barge. The one with the hook, he was looking for a key," Anna explained, as Evelyn opened up Jonathan's puzzle box.

"Hey, that's mine!" he complained, pointing at it.

"You steal things, Jonathan. They're never yours," Anna replied as she moved out of her sister's way, nudging the American beside her so he moved over a little bit, but he barely budge an inch, causing Anna to be practically pressed up against him in return.

Evelyn flipped the puzzle box over, so the opened lid was facing down, and placed it slowly on top of the lock. A perfect fit. Anna and Evelyn beamed at each other, before they heard screaming. Anna and Rick, each, instantly reached for a pistol from their holsters, before they raced to find their 'friend', the warden, who was vociferating at the top of his lungs.

They found him, but couldn't see anything wrong with him as he clutched his head, screeching in pain. Anna moved forward to examine him, but he shoved her out of the way and darted forward. They were forced to watch as he ran down the passageway, before he sprinted head-first into a wall, killing him instantly. Anna winced and pulled a stunned Evelyn into her arms as they continued to stare in horror at the now dead man... a rather disgusting site.


	8. Warning

Evelyn, Anna and Jonathan were huddled, in the darkness of night, around the fire O'Connell had made, before he went off to collect his money from the Americans. Evelyn sat between her elder siblings, with a shawl wrapped around her for warmth and comfort. Annabella, with her own shawl placed over her head like a veil, was quiet, which wasn't exactly unusual for her, but Evelyn and Jonathan both picked up on it.

"What do you suppose killed him?" Evelyn questioned.

"Did you ever see him eat?" Jonathan replied. Anna looked up as Rick sat down beside her, shotgun in hand. She raised an eyebrow at him, but he simply shrugged.

"Seems that our American friends had a little misfortune of their own today," He said, putting the gun down in front of him. "Three of their diggers were... melted."

"What?" Evelyn asked at the same time that Jonathan questioned, "How?"

Anna narrowed her eyes, replaying what he just said. "Melted?"

Rick nodded. "Salt acid. Pressurized salt acid. Some kind of ancient booby trap."

"Maybe this place really is cursed," Jonathan said just before a soft gush of wind blew through their little camp in the eeriest way possible, almost blowing out their campfire.

Rick and Jonathan exchanged a look, making Anna groan before she slapped Rick on the arm. "For goodness' sake, you two!"

"You don't believe in curses?" Rick asked as he poked the fire to keep it going.

Annabella seemed to hesitate for a moment, then sighed. "I don't know what I believe in anymore." Rick understood what she meant as he silently recalled her quests she had told him about.

"We believe, being the sensible women we are, that if we can see it and touch it, it's real," Evelyn insisted and explained for her sister as she watched Anna sink back into her own private world once more, a contemplative expression gracing her face. But what Evelyn didn't know was that her sister had started to believe in the paranormal and the supernatural for quite a while now.

"I believe in being prepared," Rick said as he chambered a round into his shotgun, making Evelyn jump with the noise it made.

"Let's see what our friend the warden believed in," Jonathan said as he picked up the man's bag and began to rummage through his belongings. Anna rolled her eyes; Jonathan really had no respect for the dead.

The group was silent as the Carnahan man rifled through the pack of the dead man until suddenly he cried out in pain, setting them all on edge. He yelped in pain, making Evelyn scream, and Rick and Anna aim their guns at the bag in his hand.

"What?!" Rick demanded as Anna questioned, "What is it?!"

"Just a broken bottle," Jonathan answered, lifting the aforementioned broken bottle from the bag and inspecting it. "Glenlivet. Twelve years old! Well, he may have been a stinky fellow, but he had good taste.”

"God dammit, Jonathan," Anna muttered, running a hand through her long hair.

Jonathan knocked back a gulp of the alcohol as Evelyn smiled at his humor. However, the distant whinnying of multiple horses set Rick and Anna on edge. The woman climbed to her feet, instantly moving towards the sound, with the man following her, but not before he had given the two remaining siblings his shotgun for protection.

Anna recognized her sister's voice not too far behind her and Rick, asking them to wait for her, and then Jonathan calling her back, only for him to follow as well.

And then they arrived, hollering like mad men upon black and white horses, and all hell broke loose. It was a scene that felt somewhat familiar to Anna; the men in black, the mayhem, the gunfire, the screaming and shouting. It was all familiar, as was Annabella's reaction. She whipped out her pistols, and began to systematically take the invaders out, one by one. These raiders had rifles and torches, and were setting fire to the Americans' tents. Anna and Rick sought out cover behind one of the many pillars, her on one side and him on another.

They worked as a team, and found that they worked quite well together.

Even Evelyn managed to shoot a man off his horse. Anna was quite proud of her baby sister in that moment. Jonathan stayed crouched behind a wall, sipping on the whiskey he'd found in the warden's satchel, and occasionally firing at one of the raiders.

Anna focused on shooting as many of the black riders as she could before she heard Jonathan shouting for Rick. She turned, putting her back to the pillar, and spotted Jonathan running from one of the riders. Rick nodded at her once before he dived off of the higher ground that they had situated themselves on and tackled the rider off of his stallion.

Annabella kept firing and taking men out, but her eyes flickered constantly to the fight Rick had found himself in. He had shot the man's blade from his hand, but got distracted by another and then found his pistol knocked out of his hand. So he dove into a roll and lit a stick of dynamite, brandished it against the raider, who paused upon seeing it and straightened up out of his defensive pose.

"Enough!" he called, and his men stopped fighting against them.

Anna still had her pistols raised even though her ammunition had just run out. The man shifted his cold gaze around and, for a second, seemed at loss of words when his dark eyes fell upon Annabella, before recomposing himself and hardening his gaze on the tourists. "We will shed no more blood, but you must leave. Leave this place or die. You have one day."

And then he remounted his horse and rode away just as quickly as he and his men had arrived. Rick stopped the flame on the dynamite, before it exploded in his hand. And then Rick rushed to Anna, who had slumped to the ground, a hand pressed to her side as confusion and slight pain clouded her paled face.

"Are you all right?" he questioned as he helped her to her feet. O'Connell then tugged her hand away from her side and saw a little blood. He raised his eyes to hers and she smiled at him, not appearing to be in much pain anymore.

"I'm fine. It's just a graze." And his eyes confirmed that. He'd dress it in a moment with some medical supplies he'd managed to barter from a woman back in the village they had stopped at.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he said, pulling her chin up so she'd look directly into his eyes. Then he rubbed some dirt of her cheek gently, so gently it almost felt like a caress.

Which it was, but they pretended it wasn't.

"Thank you," she replied in a slight whisper, her hands on his chest, careful not to smear blood on his white shirt.

"That proves it. Old Seti's fortune has got to be under this sand," Daniels said, getting the attention of most around him. "For them to protect it like this, there's got to be treasure down there."

"Or maybe they're protecting us," Anna said, earning quizzical looks from all the men around her. She hadn't wanted to believe in the curse, but, now, she simplycouldn'toverlook it anymore. What with the unexplainable death of the warden, the general bad feeling that the city filled her with, and the reappearance of the tattooed men in black robes, she wasn't exactly sure that a curse was so far-fetched anymore.

"Or they know there's treasure down there," Henderson insisted.

"These men are desert people," Rick informed them, his arms still around Anna, hers still on his chest. They didn't realize their close proximity, though if they had, they simply didn't care. "They value water, not gold."

"You know, maybe just at night we could combine forces?" Burns suggested, and Anna turned her eyes to him as he stood just behind Rick, and saw that he had been halfway through shaving when they were attacked.

Anna looked at Rick, nodding at him and allowing him to deal with it. She moved away, untangling herself from him, and walked over to Evelyn and Jonathan. She examined each of her siblings in turn, checking them over for injuries, ignoring their protests until she was satisfied they were in one piece.

Evelyn gasped when she spotted Anna's tiny surface wound.

"You're hurt!" she exclaimed. Jonathan got a little concerned, and crouched down to inspect it closer. It wasn't bleeding any more, but it would need to be cleaned as it had a little sand in the wound.

"I'm fine, Evy. It's just a scratch. Nothing to worry about," she said as Rick strode over to them. She gestured her thumb at him as he stopped beside her and started to reassure her sister. "O'Connell is going to clean it and I'll place a bandage from my pack over it. I'll be fine."

Evelyn seemed placated with her sister's reassurance, and they went back to camp to calm themselves down after all of the excitement. It may have taken a drink or two to convince Anna to actually let Rick clean her wound, and dress it, but she, Jonathan and Evelyn were soon drunk. O'Connell had refused to join in their drinking, and was a little surprised that Anna had. He hadn't pegged her as the type, nor her sister, but he figured that she was stressed. It wasn't so long before he joined them, and drank quite a lot as well. He didn't get as drunk as the Carnahans, but that's because he didn't drink as much.

After a little while, Jonathan and Evelyn were snuggled up together, the bottle of whiskey tucked into the curve of Jonathan's arm as he and his youngest sister slept peacefully.

Somehow, though not really surprisingly, the topic of combat had come up between Rick and Anna, and the broad had admitted to not being very good at hand to hand fighting; she was best as throwing the pointy and the kicks rather than the punching. So O'Connell ended up hauling the drunken woman to her feet and guiding her into a fighting stance. She picked it up quite well, especially for someone so inebriated.

"Tough stuff, try a right hook. Ball up your fist and put it up like that," he said, moving her fists into position for her, and chuckled at how hard she was trying not to laugh. He could see it in her smile, and the way she was biting her bottom lip that she was containing giggles.

"Then mean it. Hit it here." He gestured to his palm and Anna nodded with a laugh.

"I mean it!" she exclaimed, swinging her arm, and managing to hit his hand, before she toppled forwards with the momentum of her fist, and giggling as he caught her in his arms.

Anna carried on giggling as Rick helped her to sit down, sitting behind her and smiling at how carefree she seemed.

"Okay, it's time for another drink," he said.

"Unlike my big brother and my baby sister, who always tries to be so polite by accepting, sir..." Anna said as she stole the near empty bottle from her brother's arms and continued to speak. "I know when to say no."

Anna took a large gulp of the whiskey, barely noticing the burn in her throat as it slid down. Rick watched her in amusement as she contradicted herself.

"And unlike your brother and sister, Miss... you, I just don't get," Rick said to her and caught her grin. "You're a whole new brew."

"I know," she said, replacing the bottle back into Jonathan's free arm, before she continued talking. "You're wondering, what's a place like me doing in a girl like this?"

"Yeah, something like that," Rick replied as they both shifted to face each other.

"Egypt is in my blood. You see, my father..." Annabella started as she reached to her neck and pulled on the little gold chain, which Rick hadn't noticed until now, that had been hanging around it this whole time; it was longer, yet thinner than the necklace Nathan had given her.

Her fingers, though slightly clumsy, managed to pry open the small locket on the end of the chain and she held it out to him, moving even closer so she didn't have to bend forward. They were so close that their hair was brushing each other's foreheads. "... my father was a famous explorer, he loved Egypt so much that he married an Egyptian— my mother! Who was quite an adventurer herself."

Rick's eyes would flicker up from the two people immortalized in the tiny photographs in her locket to the woman herself every few seconds as she very willingly opened her life up, more, to him. She was never usually this forthcoming. It's one of the reasons that she was still a mystery to him.

"I get your father, and I get your mother... and I get them," Rick said, letting her necklace fall back against her chest as he pointed at her unconscious siblings. "But for you?There's more to it then just being here for your brother and sister.What are you doing here?"

And he was surprised when Anna climbed, albeit a little wobbly, to her feet and glared down at him, and began to rant. She couldn't explain why herself, but she felt slightly insulted by what he said as she did so. 

"I'm here... because I needed this. The thrill of the adventure... of the find. I needed to do something more than just explore the globe... Mr. O'Connell. To make myself proud of what I am," she said, not noticing how his hands had hovered sometimes and stilled her at others as she wobbled in place through her speech.

"And what is that?" he questioned, staring up at her.

Annabella opened her mouth for a second, but nothing came out making her frown before she plopped back down beside him, really drunk, grinning sheepishly.

"I... I don't actually know myself," she said with a giggle. And he smiled unsure at her as she scooted a little closer to him. "Sorry to disappoint you... Mr. O'Connell, but I am just as much... of a mystery to myself as I am... to you. Now... do you know what I am going to do?"

He smiled at her in amusement. "What?"

She looked deeply into his eyes and grinned. "I'm going to kiss you, Mr. O'Connell."

Heart pumping quickly, he chuckled, never looking away from her beautiful eyes. "No, you're not."

"I'm not?" she mused innocently, feigning puzzlement.

"Not unless you call me Rick.”

Now, she was actually puzzled. "Why would I do that?”

"Because that's my name," he explained with a smile to which she replied with a goofy one of her own.

"Call me Rick," he insisted softly, though his heart rate elevated slightly as her head moved closer to his and he could smell the oddly sweet smell of her skin. How had she managed to still smell nice and clean through days in the desert?

"Oh, Rick." She smiled before she placed a soft kiss on his mouth to which he instantly replied wholeheartedly. Eyes closed, Annabella subconsciously brought her hands up and balled them into fists in the roots of his dirty blond silky hair, pulling him closer to her, while he ran his own down her long hair to her waist, deepening the kiss. Though quite a bit heated it became, the kiss was undeniably passionate and full of bliss.

When they pulled away from each other, Anna rested her head against his shoulder and instantly fell asleep. Rick maneuvered her so she was laying across one of the blankets they'd been sitting on, and brushed one of her dark waves off of her face, tucking it behind her ear.

 _Well, she probably won't remember that tomorrow_ , Rick thought, sighing as he resigned himself to taking the first watch. He'd already agreed with the other Americans that they'd take shifts just in case the desert men came back as they slept. Henderson would relieve him in a couple of hours. So he reloaded his pistols, and holstered them, before poking the fire so it wouldn't die out.

Annabella woke up with a pounding headache as the bright Egyptian sun made it impossible for her to sleep any longer. She blinked rapidly as she tried to grow accustomed to her awakening, and then she sat up, almost banging heads with O'Connell as he moved to wake her, but he managed to move back just in time.

"How's your head?" Rick asked her, placing one hand on the side of her face so he could look into her bleary eyes.

"Fantastic. Thank you for asking," she replied sarcastically, grabbing her head on the other side and wincing as she heard the ruckus the Americans were making as they prepared for the day's work. Rick just chuckled at her before he stood up and held a hand out to her. She glared at it for a second before slipping her dainty hand into it, allowing him to heave her to her feet.

She muttered a thank you, afraid that anything louder would hurt her head. Anna then decided to reload the ammo in her guns as she hadn't last night, before she very gently— and by gently, we're talking kicking slightly harder than she really should have—woke her brother up, who in turn brought Evelyn back to the world of the conscious. Rick just watched the family interact with each other, hiding his sniggering under weak coughs. Anna raised an eyebrow at the American, but he just smiled at her in return. She shook her head, and placed her guns back into the holsters on her shoulders before checking the sharpness of her knife. It was still sharp so she didn't have to sharpen it again.

After grabbing the 'borrowed' tool kit Rick had given her, she stood up again, and glanced around at her three companions.

"Shall we get to work?" she questioned with a smile before walking off in the direction of their dig site without waiting for a reply.

Rick looked at the frowning Carnahan siblings as they watched Anna walk away.

"How is she all peppy and ready to go?" Jonathan questioned.

"It's called acting. She's suffering just as much as you are," Rick replied as he turned to Evelyn, who gave him a curious look as he helped her to her feet. How is it that he somehow seemed to understand her sister more than she did, being related to her? Still groggy, she shrugged it off with a yawn.

Rick looked down and noticed that the younger Carnahan sister looked still half-asleep, so he reached into his pack and gave her his canteen. "Here, drink some of this. It's fresh so it should wake you up a bit."

She thanked him and took a large gulp of the water, before handing it back to him. She realized that Anna had taken the tool kit, so hurried after her sister, with O'Connell and Jonathan on her heels.

Evelyn watched gleefully as Anna, Jonathan and Rick lifted the sarcophagus and pushed it up against a wall, so it was standing.

Evelyn then proceeded by slipping her the key into the sarcophagus' lock and turning it. A series of strange mechanical-like sounds were heard, and then the sarcophagus unlocked with a giant hiss. O'Connell, Evelyn and Jonathan all looked very, very hungover, and though Anna didn't look so, she was as much hungover as they were. They started to slide the heavy lid off the sarcophagus.

Pushing, shoving and groaning, the lid budged slowly, inch by inch.

"I can't believe I allowed the two of you to get me drunk," Evelyn complained, suddenly grabbing her pounding head.

Jonathan instantly went on the defensive. "Don't blame me, I don't even remember being there."

Anna snorted, rolling her eyes before groaning and moving away from the sarcophagus to hold her pounding head. "Well, neither do I, thank you," she said, not noticing the hurt look O'Connell gave her.

"You don't?" he asked. Anna looked up at him with a puzzled look before shifting her puzzlement into a nervous look.

"No.... Why? Should I?”

He mentally groaned, but gave her a big cheesy smile. "Gee, yeah, you told me it was the best time you ever had," he replied.

Anna's face dropped, appalled and embarrassed. And that's when the lid fell and loudly crashed to the ground. All four of them instantly grabbed their sore heads and moaned.

_WHAM!_

A wooden coffin was suddenly dropped to the ground next to the stone sarcophagus. Evelyn was very excited, and Anna couldn't help but smile at her little sister's excitement and lean forward in anticipation and curiosity.

"Oh, my God! We've dreamed about this ever since we were little girls," Evelyn squealed excitedly as she moved closer.

"You dream about dead guys?" Rick questioned, giving the younger Carnahan a weird look, until Anna elbowed him lightly in the ribs. He pretended to wince and she held in a giggle before suddenly turning serious— something that did not escape O'Connell's attention.

Frowning, she stepped forward and started brushing dirt and cobwebs off the top of the coffin. Then she froze.

"Evy," she mumbled, making her sister step closer, beside her. "Look, all the sacred spells have been chiseled off."

Evelyn, her expression mirroring thus of her sister, studied the artifact. "The hieratics and hieroglyphs that protect the deceased on his journey into the afterlife, they've been removed..."

"This man was cursed.... doomed," both Carnahan sisters mumbled in unison.And then, Anna noticed something strange about the sarcophagus.

Anna's frown only deepened. "Completely chiseled off," she muttered to herself.

"This man must have been condemned in this life and the next," Evelyn said.

"Must've been very naughty," Anna added as her fingers hovered over the damaged area of the sarcophagus.

O'Connell and Jonathan were too excited to care.

"Tough break," Rick said.

"Yes, I'm all tears," Jonathan said sarcastically. "Now,let's see who's inside, shall we?"

Anna and Evelyn couldn't believe these guys. Jonathan inserted the key into the coffin's lock and turned it. The lid cracked open with a hiss and, of course, they all reacted to the foul stench. Then O'Connell grabbed the lid. but it was stuck. He pulled with all his might, Jonathan helping him. It started to give way slowly. Slowly.

Anna and Evelyn stepped back, and waited while the men struggled to pull the lid off. Anna noticed Evelyn fidgeting in excitement and smiled before turning her attention back to the sarcophagus at exactly the wrong moment.

The lid popped open and the most hideous, maggot-infested, rotten corpse imaginable jumped out, an ancient scream still stuck in its throat. O'Connell let out a loud scream in surprise along with the youngest and oldest Carnahan while Anna stared at them for a few seconds as they calm themselves down before she burst into a loud fit of laughter, startling them once more.

"I hate it when these things do that," Evelyn muttered, slightly angry that she had been scared again by another mummy popping out at her. At least, this time Jonathon had been scared too.

"Yes, how are you not scared?!" Jonathan exclaimed to Anna, holding a hand against his heart, making sure his heart rate slowed down to its normal tempo.

Anna calmed down and sighed as she shrugged. "Perks of being a thrill seeker for years," she replied before bring her attention back to the disgusting corpse. This one seemed to be the 'Elephant Man' of corpses; twisted and deformed. The years have not been kind. He slumped back into his coffin.

The foursome slowly crept forward and carefully looked back inside the coffin, three of them creeped-out, Anna simply disgusted.

"Is he supposed to look like that?" O'Connell asked.

Anna shook her head, the many corpses she had seen throughout her adventures coming back to her. "No. I've never seen a mummy look like this."

Evelyn shuddered, eyeing to body. "She's right. He's, he's still..."

"Juicy?" Jonathan offered, making Anna scrunch her nose in disgust at, not only the corpse itself, but the choice of word, though adequate it was to describe the corpse's state.

"Yes," she said.

"He's more than three thousand years old and still decomposing," Evelyn elaborated.

Anna nodded. "Which should be impossible. He should be nothing more than a slightly dusty skeleton," she added as she gazed at the mummy, wondering why he was still, as the boys put it, juicy. Something was wrong here.

"And look at this." O'Connell pointed at the inside of the coffin lid, where there were fingernail scratches, and dried blood all over the inside. Clearly the man had wanted out. "What do you think of this?"

Anna and Evelyn dropped down on either side of the lid, Anna next to Rick, and ran their fingers over the ridges of the indentations.

"These marks were made with fingernails." Evelyn gasped as she dragged her own fingers along a set of the scratches.

"Oh, God, he was buried alive," Anna chocked out, staring at the corpse in disgust, shock and pity.

This sent a chill through everyone.

Evelyn leaned in closer, "And he left a message."

Looking more closely, Anna saw that, indeed, he left a message... with his own blood. " _'Death is only the beginning'_ ," she translated.

Jonathan shivered as O'Connell looked around.

"Where's my gun?" he wondered anxiously, aloud.

Jonathan snorted, though you could clearly see he was still nervous as he kept glancing around. "What are you going to do? Shoot him?”

"If he decides to wake up, hell yes!" Rick exclaimed.

Anna didn't quite understand why, but while she stared at him, a feeling of familiarity washed over her. She couldn't explain it, but she felt as if she knew the mummy, which was impossible, of course. She had only been alive for twenty eight years while the mummy was over three millenniums old. Shaking her head and stood up, gaining the attention of the other three in her party. She walked over to the tool kit and grabbed the sketch pad and pencils she had purchased from a vendor back at the village a few days ago.

She started to open it, absentmindedly, when her sister called out to her, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Anna, come look at this."

Anna walked back to her sister and frowned in surprise as her sister pointed out another message she had not noticed until now.

"What does it say?" Jonathan asked.

" _'_ _Reign will follow,_ _shall awakening happen, with Nebetia, my queen. As thou should have been,'_ " Evelyn translated.

 _Nebetia_...

And there it was. That strange feeling again, like someone was watching her. Anna's head snapped up the second the name reached her ears, just like the day before. She frowned and warily glanced around, looking for the voice again.

Still frowning, she turned and caught the questioning look O'Connell sent her way. She simply shook her head as if to say it was nothing before bringing her attention back to her sketch book.

Rick watched the eldest Carnahan sister as she sat back beside him and began to sketch everything she saw; the scratches on the lid, the creepy message, and then the juicy mummy. Everything except the second message, he noticed. She was very detailed, and very talented.

"I did have a camera to capture evidence of all this, but I left it back in London with Nate, so sketches will have to do for now," Anna said as she passed her drawings to Evelyn, who gratefully took them and inspected her sister's accuracy.

"Is there anything you can't do?" Rick questioned, not realizing he had asked the question aloud.

Anna smirked at him before answering his question. "I can't touch the tip of my tongue to the bottom of my nose. I saw a man do it once, but I think he had an abnormally long tongue," she joked, grinning at the American as he shook his head at her jesting.

Evelyn and Jonathan exchanged a look, both noticing how open and comfortable Anna was around their guide. Anna never behaved this way with men she had only just met, or so they thought, which led her siblings to believe that there was something between her and O'Connell.

Maybe there was.


	9. Awakening

They'd stopped working for the night, but Anna had gone back inside to inspect the area where the warden had died. She didn't understand why he had died and that frustrated her. There was nothing around that gave any indication as to what had happened to the pig of a man, so she decided to have another look at the sarcophagus instead. And she found something interesting. She carried her find back through the tunnels, and to their camp, but passed the Egyptologist on her way. He had a familiar looking book in his hands. It wasn't the Book of Amun-Ra, the Book of The Living, but a black book that was similar to what she had pictured the gold book to be like. He was struggling to open it, and then she spied a familiar looking lock. That's when the man caught her staring.

"I think you need a key to open that book," Anna said simply before she carried on her way back to the camp.

The two camps had now joined together. O'Connell and Beni were roasting chunks of hairy meat over a fire.

Jonathan wrinkled his nose, disgusted by the smell. "What is this stuff? It smells like our late friend, the warden."

O'Connell and Beni both grinned.

Jonathan caught their looks, and looked at them, horrified. "You did not!? .... We're not!?"

O'Connell sniggered, giving the Carnahan man a cheesy grin. "Rat gizzards. They smell bad and taste worse, but that's the best the desert has to offer," he replied as the gloating Americans sat down, fondling their jeweled jars.

"Say O'Connell, whadaya think these honey's'll fetch back home?" Henderson asked.

Burns sent them a mocking smirk. "We hear you gentlemen found yerselves a nice gooey mummy. Congratulations."

"Ya know if ya dry him out, you can sell him for firewood," Daniels said.

The Americans laughed as Annabella approached the camp, noticing their once rivals had joined her group, and Beni had seated himself in her spot between Rick and her sister.

"Look what I found!" she said, announcing her presence.

"You're in her seat," Rick said to Beni, though the weedy, smelly man initially thought his old friend was kidding... that is until he caught O'Connell's glare. "Now!"

"Scarab skeletons?" Evelyn asked, eyeing the tiny objects in her sister's hands.

Anna nodded before elaborating further for those who had no idea what those things were. "Flesh-eaters," she said, holding them out slightly in her hands so the Americans had a good view as well as she sat in her spot. Evelyn took a couple so Jonathan could see better, and Rick nudged one on Anna's hand to make sure it was really dead. "I found them inside our friend's coffin."

"They can stay alive for years feasting on the flesh of a corpse. Unfortunately for our friend, he would have been still alive when they started eating him," Evelyn explained as Jonathan played with one in his hand.

"So somebody threw these in with our guy, and then they slowly ate him alive?" Rick questioned, holding one aloft as he looked at Anna for answers.

"Very slowly. It would have been a very violent, very painful death," she answered, handing the rest of them to Evelyn, who gleefully inspected them. Then Anna poked the fire to keep it going.

"He sure wasn't a popular guy when they planted him," Jonathan summarized, in a way that only Jonathan could.

"He probably got a little too frisky with the Pharaoh's daughter," Rick said, with a smirk.

"Or his mistress," Anna added.

"Or both," Jonathan chimed in, causing Anna to chuckle at both her brother and the American beside her. Evelyn also laughed at their words before she went on to inform them of some of the information she had acquired.

"According to my readings, our friend suffered the Hom-Dai," Evelyn said.

"That bad, huh?" Rick said.

"Hom-Dai..." Anna echoed with a far away look on her face, causing O'Connell to frown when his question wasn't answered.

"What's a home day?" Rick asked.

Evelyn rolled her eyes before correcting him. "Hom-Dai. The worst of all ancient Egyptian curses."

Anna nodded, finally snapping herself back into reality. "One reserved only for the most evil of blasphemers." She sighed when she only got an even more confused look from O'Connell. "I've never heard of this curse having actually been performed."

"So, I take it that's a bad thing," Rick guessed.

"Yes. They never used it because they feared it so," Anna said.

"It's written, that if a victim of the Hom-Dai should ever arise, he would bring with him the ten plagues of Egypt," Evelyn chimed in.

"The ten plagues? You mean all ten plagues."

"Like what that Moses guy did to that Pharaoh guy?" Beni asked.

Anna found herself smirking now. "That’s one way of putting it."

"Let's see, there was frogs, flies, locusts..." Jonathan started listing.

"Hail and fire," Burns added.

"The sun turning black," Henderson said.

"Water turning to blood," Daniels said.

"And my personal favorite: people covered in boils and sores," Jonathan finished.

All the men share nervous looks, really spooked, while Evelyn and Anna just laughed as the eldest Carnahan woman then pulled a meat stick out of the fire.

"Fried gizzard anyone?" she offered, a mischievous yet slightly innocent grin on her face.

After a long moment, everyone resumed to small chatter, doing as best as they could to not go back on the previous subject. Though most of Anna's attention had been lost to the three Americans opposite her, holding the three ornate canopic entopic jars she had just noticed. She rose from her seat as Evelyn continued to explain to Rick all about the Hom-Dai curse, and sat next to Henderson. He gave her a look, and she pointed at his jar.

"Did your Egyptologist explain what that is?" she questioned.

"Yeah, he said that it was one of those embalming jars. Has the guts of some dead guy in it," Henderson said, nodding at the same time.

"Did you get it from a box?" she questioned, though she wasn't sure how she knew that there was a box to begin with. She just had a feeling.

"Yeah. A black one with some fake curse on it."

Anna blinked at him before she smiled. "Well, just hope that no one wakes up our guy. Otherwise, you, my friends, are toast. Maybe literally," she said, standing up and moving back to her original seat.

Evelyn had just finished explaining when Anna gave her a look before she remembered the Egyptologist and his new possession.

"I think the Egyptologist found the book, but it's not the gold book. I think he found the Book of the Dead. Fitting as we're in the City of the Dead," Anna mused, informing her sister that her dream of finding the Book of Amun-Ra wasn't going to be happening anytime soon. Evelyn looked slightly annoyed at the fact the pretentious snob of a man had beaten her to the real find, but then a mischievous look crossed her face and Anna didn't need a mind reader to know she was planning something.

And Anna didn't have to wait too long before her suspicions were confirmed. She was lying on the other side of O'Connell, attempting to sleep, when she heard movement. She didn't need to open her eyes to know it was her sister. The footsteps moved away from camp, before they stopped for a moment and came back again.

"That's called  _stealing_ , you know," O'Connell said to her sister, his eyes still closed, and his shotgun still in hand.

Anna pushed herself upright, and looked at him first. He had known she wasn't asleep, but knew she needed to rest so didn't bother trying to make conversation. But now she was wide awake, and watching him with dark eyes that captured his attention all the time, until they were gone and had moved to her sister.

"According to you and my brother, it's called  _borrowing_ ," Anna muttered, as the younger woman burrowed through Jonathan's jacket to get the key.

Both Anna and Rick moved towards Evelyn as she began fiddling with the key, getting it to open.

"I thought the Book of Amun-Ra was made out of gold," Rick said as he eyed the book that the youngest Carnahan had stolen. Anna sat on Evelyn's left, looking over her shoulder, while Rick gazed over Evelyn's right side.

"It is made out of gold," Anna said.

"This isn't the Book of Amun-Ra. This is something else. I think this may be the Book of the Dead," Evelyn explained to him, but it didn't make him any less confused. Anna saw this, but waited until he had actually asked the question before helping him.

"The Book of the Dead? Are you sure you want to be playing around with this thing?" he questioned, and Anna found herself agreeing with him. Was it really wise to play about with a book that almost beckoned not to be read by anyone. Ever.

Anna bit her lip and hesitated. "Yeah, Evy. I think it's best you don't; I have a weird feeling about this."

Evelyn placed the key over the lock and start to twist it around.

"It's just a book. No harm ever came from..." She paused slightly as the book snapped open. Anna fought against the urge to snap it closed just as quickly as it had opened. "... reading a book."

As Evelyn lifted the heavy cover, a gust of wind rushed through the camp, and Anna and Rick exchanged nervous glances.

"That happens a lot around here," Rick said, though Anna knew he was using humor to hide his discomfort. "So what's it say?"

" _'Ahm kum Ra. Ahm kum Dei'_ ," Evelyn started.

"It speaks of the night and of the day," Anna translated in a mumble before Evelyn continued reading it in ancient Egyptian, her fingers tracing her progress. Anna was filled with dread and unease as Evelyn neared the end. As Evelyn finished, a loud animal-like screech filled the air and woke up everyone in camp.

"NO! YOU MUST NOT READ FROM THE BOOK!" the Egyptologist shouted at Evelyn, though it was too late.

Anna felt the shift in the wind, and heard something traveling towards them. It even woke Jonathan, which was a testament to how loud it must have been because Jonathan could sleep through a thunderstorm.

Everyone was now standing, waiting and watching for whatever was heading towards them. Rick had his shotgun in hand, and Anna had drawn one of her handguns, but they were frozen as they watched a dark cloud move fast towards them.

That was, they were frozen until it became clear that they had to run. Rick grabbed Anna's free hand, and Jonathan grabbed hold of Evelyn as they turned and ran away from the dark, large, deadly locust swarm.

Rick led them into the tunnels that led underground, away from the swarm, and grabbed a lit torch so they could move through the darkness. Anna and Evelyn were in the middle with Jonathan at the back of the group with another torch.

Though as they moved down one of the tunnels, it suddenly jolted, and part of the floor rose up. Anna and the others stared at it in horror, when suddenly hundreds of deadly scarab beetles spilled from the mound of sand, noisy and beautiful though Anna and Evelyn quickly pulled the men backwards.

"Scarabs!" Evelyn yelled as they turned again and ran in the opposite direction.

"Run, Anna!! Evy!" Jonathan pushed his sisters in front of him, and urged them forward as they tore down the passageway with O'Connell just seconds behind them.

"Go, go! Run!" He yelled at them, as the scarabs followed them. Rick threw his torch at them, making a hole in their advancement that was quickly reformed, and began to blow some of them to pieces with his shotgun.

The scarabs forced them to run up a bridge, which Jonathan, Rick quickly jumped off to the left and onto a safe pillar that was separate, meaning the scarabs couldn't get them. Anna and Evelyn, however, jumped right and leaned against a wall as they watched the bloodthirsty beetles scuttle onwards, looking for the next available target to devour.

Until, suddenly, the wall was no longer behind them, and they fell backwards with a yelp into more darkness. And soon the scarabs had all disappeared, and Rick looked around and noticed that the two Carnahan sisters were no longer with them.

"Anna?" he called. "Evelyn?

"They had just been standing right across from us!" Jonathan exclaimed, scared for his missing sisters.

"Where are they now?" Rick asked, though it was more to himself. No one had any answers.

It was dark in the tunnel Anna and Evelyn were now lying in. Anna glanced around, breathing hard mostly because she was winded from falling backwards and because she was slightly afraid. Evelyn was breathing quickly, nervously glancing around while reaching out, hoping to feel her sister beside her.

"Anna?"

"Shh, I'm here Eves. Don't worry," Anna reassured, grabbing her sister's hand.

"I'm scared," Evelyn whispered in a small voice. She suddenly felt like a child afraid of the dark, looking for her older sibling's comfort. Anna was about to reassure her sister again before they both jumped in fright and surprise when a groan echoed throughout the dark tunnel. Swallowing hard, Anna pulled her sister flush against her and peaked around the wall she had braced herself against.

Burns was stood there, so she stood up, pulling her sister along, and walked to him.

"Burns. Thank God. I thought I was alone down here. I got separated from everyone. I—" Anna rambled as she and her sister approached him, seeming to not hear the pained groans that emitted from his chest, until he turned around. They gasped, and stepped back, as Burns stood before them, with his eyes missing from their sockets.

"My eyes. My eyes." He said, though it came out less clearer.

Anna and Evelyn turned around and screamed as the mummy stood before them and growled. Both sisters, still holding hands, walked backwards, as it stalked towards them. In her fear of it, Anna had completely forgotten the two pistols holstered on her shoulders and the knife strapped to her thigh. She just kept stumbling backwards, with her sister, until it had them backed against a wall with no way of escaping.

They didn't bother asking Burns for help, he was already crawling away, crying about the loss of his tongue. Burns did draw the mummy's attention for a brief moment, but it soon turned back round to face them, gazing at them with Burns' stolen eyes.

"Anck-su-namun?" he questioned, looking at Evelyn, and she and Anna just stared at him in confusion, before they decided that trying to escape would be better than trying to work out the mind of a three thousand year old mummy who was calling Evelyn names.

Everything seemed to freeze around Annabella when the mummy's gaze turned and lingered upon her with a glint in those stolen eyes that she couldn't place. Her breath got caught up in her throat when the next word escaped his rotten lips. "Nebetia?"

She kept her eyes on it as Evelyn moved along the wall, pulling her along, and he followed them, moving closer as he did so.

"Come with me my Princess Anck-su-namun, and my Queen Nebetia," he said to them, in ancient Egyptian, and Evelyn shook her head and Anna simply stared at him, ignoring the hand he held out to her. They had both understood what he had said, but they had no intentions of following him.

Thankfully, they soon heard heavy footsteps and the familiar American drawl of Anna's newest favorite person in the world. O'Connell bounded towards them, scolding them for getting separated from the group, not noticing the mummy yet.

"There you two are! Stop playing hide-and-seek. Come on, let's get out of here," he said, grabbing Anna's free hand, ready to drag her away, knowing Evelyn would be pulled as well along the way as she was holding Anna's other hand, but he soon realized that she wasn't looking at him and hadn't even acknowledged his words. He followed her gaze and shouted out in surprise.

"Annie? Evy?" Jonathan called, distracting the mummy as he bounded into the room and then stopped suddenly, noticing their once inanimate friend, almost causing Henderson and Daniels to run into him. The mummy regarded them for a brief moment, and decided they weren't worth his efforts, before he turned back to Rick, Anna and Evelyn, and screamed in their direction.

O'Connell yelled back at it, before blowing a chunk of it off with his shotgun. Once it hit the ground, he grabbed Anna's hand once more and urged both Carnahan women forward.

"Move!" Rick yelled, and the other three ran after them, with Jonathan rambling, asking them if they had seen the mummy, which, of course, they had.

"It was walking. It was walking!" he shouted as they rushed away from the creature.

They raced through the tunnels until they reached the surface again, but just when they had gotten away from the creature, they had run back into the men in black. All of whom pointed rifles at them. Anna sighed, but noticed Evelyn's gaze was fixed on the leader, who had just uncovered his face. Anna couldn't believe that Evelyn had just formed a crush on one of the men who was threatening her. She even had her hands raised in surrender, mirroring their brother, but she still had this mystified look on her face.

"I told you to leave or die. You refused. Now you may have killed us all. You have unleashed a creature we have feared for more than three thousand years," he said, and Anna's usually long fuse was coming to it's end, and it was attached to a big, big stick of dynamite.

"Relax. I got him," Rick said, and Anna almost wanted to hit him. Bullets weren't going to kill it.

"No mortal weapon can kill this creature. He's not of this world," the leader said, and Anna couldn't help herself or bite her tongue any longer.

"Then maybe your ancestors shouldn't have placed a curse upon it in the first place," she said, and the leader's eyes widened in surprise.

He hadn't expected this woman to identify his tribe for what they are. "You're the Medjai. Descendant's of the bodyguards of the Pharaoh... the Mumia. Your ancestors would have been the ones to place the curse upon him. So, if we're talking technicalities, my sister may have brought him back to life, but in actuality it's your fault as well."

"Is this also our fault?" he questioned. Two of his men brought forward a groaning Burns, and gently placed him on the floor in front of Henderson and Daniels.

"You bastards," Daniels seethed as he stared at the men in black or Medjai as the gun-toting woman called them.

"What did you do to him?" Henderson demanded.

"We saved him before the creature could finish his work. Leave, all of you, quickly, before he finishes you all," he said before he ordered his men to leave in Arabic. "We must now go on a hunt and try to find a way to kill him."

"I already told you I got him."

The man turned around and stared at O'Connell for a moment before he spoke in an even more serious manner than before. "Know this. This creature is the bringer of death. He will never eat, he will never sleep... and he will never stop."

He then left with his men, and the...  _tourists_ all looked at each other for a moment, not saying anything, before Anna decided to break the silence.

"I think we should have listened the first time when he said  _'Leave this place or die,'_ " she muttered.


	10. The Curse

They left that night, and two days later the group were entering Fort Brydon, in Cairo. They were back home, and Anna was glad. She thought that she smelt like sweat, and sand, and death. It was horrible. But as soon as they got back to Cairo, Anna went to her apartment and grabbed all her clothes before joining the others at a hotel. She had unpacked all of her clothes into the drawers in the bedroom she was given. She made sure to choose a suite that had two bedrooms linked, so she can keep an eye on her. It was quite nice.

She was enjoying the quiet, until it was interrupted.

O'Connell stared at her as she organized her shirts into a drawer with something akin to horror, though before he realized what she was doing, he had noticed that she was back in a shirt and tight trousers. He liked this look just as much as the crop top and long skirt combo. She looked more at ease now, though.

"What are you doing?" he questioned, moving in to the room, and looked pointedly at the empty trunks.

"What does it look like, O'Connell? I'm unpacking my belongings. I've already finished hanging up dresses, skirts and trousers, and now I'm putting away shirts and nightdresses," Anna explained to him, ignoring the fact she knew what he was really talking about. Instead, she just stood up and began packing her underwear into a drawer.

O'Connell stormed into her closet, and grabbed a handful of her clothes, as Anna watched. The white cat that belonged to her sister sat on top one of her empty trunks, and she stroked behind its ear. It was useless to get in his way, until she was certain this was just a regular hissy fit.

"I thought you said you didn't believe in fairy tales and hokum," he said before glaring at the white feline. "Shoo!" And Anna quickly lifted the cat before he could knock it over as he flipped open the trunk and dumped her clothes into it.

"For your information, I never said that. My sister said that, but encountering a three thousand year old walking, talking corpse tends to convert one's beliefs!" Anna protested, subconsciously dropping the cat into the lid of the trunk and seized her clothes and put them back where he found them. Rick was rooting through her drawers, lifting all the silk, cotton and lace out of them and carried them over to the newly emptied trunk and unceremoniously dumped everything in to it.

"Forget it. We're out the door, down the hall and we're gone," Rick said, and Anna bristled as she picked her lingerie and nightclothes back out of the trunk, half-pissed that he had the nerve to touch her underclothes in the first place.

"You, sir, are not the boss of me. We aren't going!" Anna protested.

"Yes, we are."

"Oh, no we are not. We woke him up, and we are going to stop him," Anna said, dropping her clothes onto her bed, forgetting them for now as she stepped forward and stopped O'Connell from grabbing a collection of books she had brought on the off-chance she could find something in them to help them figure out how to stop the mummy from causing any harm.

" _'We'_? What  _'we'_? We did not read that book. Your sister read that book. I told her not to play around with that thing. Didn't I tell her not to play around with that thing?" he said as he stared down at her.

"Fine.  _'We'_ as in Evy and I. She woke him up and I am going to stop him," Anna insisted, grabbing his arm to stop him reaching out for the books again. Rick stared down at where her hand was lightly gripping his arm before he raised his blue eyes back to her dark mesmerizing ones.

"How? You heard the man. No mortal weapons can kill this guy," Rick replied, trying to poke enough holes into whatever plan she was making so that she wouldn't go through with it.

"Trust me, I know. We're just going to have to find some immortal weapons," Anna retorted, frustration pouring into her voice. She was being pushed, she knew. He was purposefully pushing her.

"There goes that  _'we'_ again," Rick commented, staring up as though he was talking to someone else,before he moved around her and rested his hands on the rim of her trunk.

"Will you listen to me?" she glowered, slamming the lid of the trunk down, and it landed heavily on Rick's fingers. She paid no attention to the pain she had just caused him and carried on talking. She followed him as he circled round the room. "Once this creature is reborn his curse will spread till the earth is destroyed."

"Yeah?" Rick questioned, raising his voice and stopped in the middle of the room, whirling around on her. "Is that my problem?"

"It bloody well will be, O'Connell. It'll be everyone's problem!" she shouted at him as she walked away from him, and this time he was following her around the room as she straightened things up that he had messed up in his tirade.

"Look lady, I appreciate you saving my life and all," O'Connell said, quieter and softer this time as he followed her around the table. Then he raised his voice again. "But when I signed on, I agreed to take you out there and to bring you back, and I did, now we're even.End of job, end of story. Contract terminated."

And then the dark haired, ivory-skinned beauty in front of him said something he hadn't expected her to.

"That's all I mean to you? A contract?" Anna questioned, and he could see the tiniest bit of hurt in her eyes before she masked it with anger.

"Look, you can tag along with me, or you can stay here and play around with Mister Maggot, trying to save the world!" Rick said as they glared at each other. "What's it gonna be?"

She stared at him for a moment, many emotions flashing through her strangely green-specked eyes, before she spoke calmly.

"I'm staying," she said quietly. O'Connell opened his mouth to protest, but she ignored it and continued. "Like you said, you were paid to do a job, you've done it. You're free to leave whenever you want." Her voice was almost cold as she said those words, and he knew that he would come to regret saying that he was only here because of the contract between them. "And whether or not you're leaving Cairo, I suggest you leave my room, before I do something I'll regret."

"Anna—"

"It's Annabella to you," she snapped. "Now get out, Mr. O'Connell. I am finished talking with you." She turned her back on him and moved away from him to reorganize her drawers. She heard the door close behind him, and let the air rush out of her lungs as she sighed in frustration.

That man was infuriating.

O'Connell angrily strode through the compound. He saw Beni coming up the path with a man dressed in hooded robes, his face covered by an ornate death mask.

Rick sauntered over to him in three long strides, grabbing the cowardice man by the collar of his shirt. "Beni ya little stinkweed, where did you slink off to?"

"You left me! You left me in the desert to rot."

O'Connell thought for a moment before he remembered. "Oh yeah... sorry bout that." He then gestured toward the strangers. "So who's this guy?"

Beni fought back a smirk. "This is Prince Imhotep, High Priest of Osiris."

O'Connell raised an eyebrow before nodding. "Oh, hey, how ya doin'?" He stuck out his hand to shake, though the man instantly recoiled, making O'Connell give him the once-over.

Beni quickly covered. "The Prince does not like to be touched by other humans. A Silly eastern superstition, I'm afraid."

O'Connell gave him a suspicious look. "Yeah, well, we all got our little problems today don't we?"

"He has come to help Mister Burns. Somehow I feel responsible."

O'Connell glared at him and scoffed. "Don't gimme that, you never had any scruples."

"Do you know where I can steal some?" Beni eagerly asked.

O'Connell rolled his eyes and fake-punched him, causing Beni to slightly flinch. He gave the stranger one last look as he strode off. "See ya around, Padre."

The man's grotesque new eyes glared out from behind the mask.

The proverbial den-of-iniquity. Hard men, hard women and hard liquor. Lots of deals going down. An older guy with a walrus mustache was drunk and talking to some tough customers. He wore British WWI fighter pilot gear. His name was Winston Havlock.

"I'm the last of the Royal Force still stationed here, you know?" he slightly bragged. "All the other laddies died in the air and were buried in the sand." The tough customers shoved him away.

Winston staggered over to O'Connell and Jonathan at the bar, not missing a beat. "Ever since the end of the Great War, there hasn't been a single challenge worthy of a man like me."

O'Connell chuckled and rolled his eyes. "I've heard it before, Winston," he said, shoving him away, causing him to stagger back to Jonathan.

"I just wish I would've chucked it with the other laddies," Winston slurred. "Gone down in a flame of glory, instead of sitting around here, rotting from boredom and booze!"

Jonathan shoved him towards another group of unlucky sods as Henderson and Daniels sidle up to the bar next to them.

Burns, now tongue-less in his quarters, talked with a severe impediment. "The drawer there, spectacles." He tried to laugh. "As you see, I won't be needing them."

The stranger whom Beni had brought with him, opened the drawer and pulled out some bifocals. He put the bifocals on over his death mask, and grinned broadly, his rotted teeth showing through the mouth hole.

Beni smirked. "Mister Burns, Prince Imhotep thanks you for your spectacles— and for your eyes... and for your tongue."

The expression on Burns' face started to change, very puzzled.

Beni let out a dramatic sigh as he shook his head, feigning sadness. "But I am afraid more is needed, the Prince says he must finish the job, consummate the curse which you and your friends have brought down upon yourselves."

A look of pure fear registered on Burns' face. Beni quickly backed away and ran out of the room. Imhotep, the said prince, picked up the sacred canopic jar, then removed the death mask, revealing his hideous, shattered corpse-skull.

Three shot glasses clinked together. O'Connell, Jonathan and Henderson slugged 'em down before all three of them spat it back out. Half the bar spat out their drinks as well.

"Sweet Jesus!" Henderson exclaimed in disgust. "That tasted just like... like..."

"Blood," O'Connell finished. They all look at each other, even more nervous.

" _'And the rivers and waters of Egypt went red and were as blood,'_ " said Jonathan.

A look passed over O'Connell's face, a realization. "He's here." He suddenly jumped away from the bar and ran for the door.

"Who's here!?" Jonathan called after him.

"The guy! The Priest! The mummy!" O'Connell shouted it back as he disappeared behind the door.

Lighting flashed as O'Connell raced across the compound, knocking several Soldiers out of his way, panic stricken.

"Annabella!! ANNABELLAAAA!!!" he shouted frantically.

Anna was walking with Evelyn, her sister's nose in a book, and Anna was playing bodyguard, though she really was the one who needed one. Her guns were holstered and loaded at her shoulders. She had two additional guns strapped to her legs, and her knife tucked into her boot. She had a few bullets in her trouser pockets just in case as well. She was a walking, talking, ammunition's station.

Every so often there was a crack  of lightening that pulled Evelyn's nose out of her book, and she would exchange a knowing glance with Anna each time.

"Oh, Anna! Evelyn!" a familiar American accent called from behind the two sisters, causing them both to turn at the same time. Anna regarded the man with a knowing glance before  looking back at her sister, avoiding his hypnotizing blue eyes as he rushed toward them. Then he grabbed Anna and looked at her and her sister with panicked eyes, breathing hard. With the look Anna gave him, he knew that she was still angry with him.

"So you're still here," Evelyn said, greeting O'Connell with a rather cold shoulder.

"I thought I told you to call me Annabella." Anna glared up at him and shrugged his hand off her, surprising Evelyn, not from the glare, but from the demand. Her sister usually hated being called by her full first name as she'd always say it made her feel old. But here she was, snapping at O'Connell to call her so; he must've gotten himself into some serious dung if he was being demanded to use Anna's full name.

Rick tried his best to ignore Anna's comment as he looked at them with a smile in which she did not fail to notice the nervousness  "We've got problems," he said as he came to a stop in front of the Carnahan women.

As soon as he finished saying that, lightening cracked, though that wasn't even the worst part. About a second later, a barrage of hail and fired slammed into the courtyard. The three of them jumped back as a water fountain burst into steam. A wooden trellis caught fire. Rick, Anna and Evelyn gazed up at the sky that was crying meteorites, before they unfroze from the frightened stupor, Anna more from shock than fright.

"He's here! I saw him! That thing is here!" O'Connell said.

Evelyn gave him a shocked look. "The creature!? Are you sure!?"

Anna and O'Connell gave her an incredulous look and gestured at the hail and fire. "I'm sure he's pretty sure, Evy!" Anna exclaimed.

Rick pulled Anna's arm, and she grabbed Evelyn's hand, towing her behind the two fighters as the man led them to safety while the fireballs continued to burn and squash people out in the open. They soon realized that they had nowhere to go, so they stopped and tried to pick out their best option. That is until a very cowardly face tried to sneak back up some stairs behind them to avoid being seen. Rick, however,  _did_  see him. All too clearly, at that. He grabbed Beni and pushed him up against the wall while Anna, only half listening as she held Evelyn in her arms, winced as she watched people burning. This felt like Nepal all over again.

"Beni, you little bean bag. Where you been?" Rick demanded. He wanted to know what the coward was  _really_  doing, though he was answered by a loud, familiar, inhuman growl.

Beni ran past the two women, who looked up at Rick. Anna let go of her sister with one arm, using it to pull out one of her guns, and Rick grabbed hold of Anna once more and pulled her up the stairs by her arm. The three stopped and frowned when everything went dead quiet. Anna, Evelyn and O'Connell froze. And then a blood curdling scream was heard coming from the living quarters directly above them. The trio immediately raced up the stairs.

They raced into the room, past a servant who was running out screaming, and skid to a stop, horrified by what they saw.A body that could only have been Burns had been sucked dry— shriveled to half its size, drained of all organs and liquids. Evelyn and O'Connell were shocked, Anna a little less, as drained corpses wasn't exactly something new to her. They then heard a loud moan and noticed the only culprit standing on the far side of the room. O'Connell drew his gun. The man was slowly regenerating into something more... human: a thick skin formed over powerful new musculature, his tendons rippled, his bones bulged and reformed. His mouth opened to an inhuman size as he moaned and cried out in severe pain. And then it was over, and he looked like an incredibly muscular, corpse-like vision from hell. The 'Terminator' Mummy.

O'Connell was stunned. Anna wasn't exactly sure how to feel. Evelyn gasped beside Anna, who stared at the creature in front of her, absolutely disgusted and slightly terrified, but completely and ashamedly fascinated too. The mummy turned and now looked a little more fleshy, and growled at them. Rick and Anna raised their pistols at it, but glanced at each other nervously.

"We are in serious trouble," O'Connell said.

Anna groaned and nodded. "Ya don't say, O'Connell," she muttered sarcastically as their eyes averted back to the creature in front of them.

The mummy then started to move towards them, staring at Anna.

"Uh-oh," Anna muttered, her eyes widening.

O'Connell growled. "Back off, creep."

Though Imhotep kept coming. Rick had both of his pistols out now, and as the creature advanced on them, he began to fire, blasting the creature. Bullets ripped through his body, though he didn't seem to mind.

"What is he, immortal?" Evelyn whispered in disbelief, before remembering. "Oh, wait, he is," she answered herself, earning herself an incredulous look from her sister.

Anna grabbed Evelyn and moved to the side, allowing Rick to do what he had to do. Her priority was her younger sister, and he knew that. The bullets just kept ripping through the mummy as he kept stalking forward, and appeared to do little damage. Soon Rick's pistols were out of ammo, and the creature lifted him, and threw him backwards. The American landed on the other two Americans and Jonathan, who had just entered the room and were about to draw their weapons.

Jonathan, Henderson and Daniels ran into the room. They were all stunned at the sight of the creature. Soon Rick's pistols were out of ammo, so he threw them onto the ground. stepped forward and threw a right hook, punching Imhotep in the face, though his fist went through his skull and got stuck deep inside his head. O'Connell stared at it, shocked, then quickly yanked his fist back out. The area of Imhotep's face that came into contact with O'Connell's fist quickly degenerated and decayed, right down to the bone, as if O'Connell's hand instantly infected it. Imhotep angrily turned, grabbed O'Connell, and with no effort, threw him across the room and into Jonathan and the others knocking them down. Imhotep looked at his hand, the one that just grabbed O'Connell, it started to shrivel and decay as well.

Anna shoved Evelyn away from her as the creature turned to her, praying her sister wasn't what it wanted. He slightly glanced toward the youngest Carnahan and glared for a moment before turning his attention back to Anna who looked at him wide doe eyes. She raised her pistol, but he knocked the weapon out of her hand, so she just backed away, until her back hit a bookshelf and she was boxed in.

"God, not me," she mumbled the plead as she swallowed hard, eyes never leaving those that the mummy had stolen from her formal rival slash ally.

" _You saved me from the undead. For this, I shall make you immortal_ ," the mummy said, in ancient Egyptian, before he leaned in towards her. Anna's eyes widened as she realized what he was about to do. Evelyn was watching the scene with eyes as wide as her sister.

She stumbled onto her feet and replied, " _It was I,_ " in ancient Egyptian.

The mummy looked at her and narrowed his eyes at her for a moment before he muttered, "Anck-su-namun," in a decisive tone, an inexplicable glint in his eyes that held some form of malice in them. He then turned back to Anna who mentally cursed in her head as he leaned his decayed face toward her once more and tried to kiss her, though she turned her head away, hoping the dead guy would get that she really does not want to kiss him.

Though before the creature could defile her mouth, Evelyn's cat pounced on the piano and made its presence known.

The creature gasped loudly at the sight of the white cat as, at the same time, the balcony doors blew open. Imhotep spun into a blast of wind and sand, and swirled out the doors, leaving Anna wide eyed, breathing heavily, scared out of her wits. Rick pushed himself upright further, and said what each person in the room was thinking, "We are in very serious trouble."

Anna slowly lowered herself to the floor, and breathed slow deep breaths in an attempt to stop her body from shaking. Jonathan had already clambered to his feet to check that Evelyn was okay, and Rick noticed how scared Anna still was, so he crawled over to her, and pulled her towards him.

Anna reluctantly accepted the comfort that O'Connell was willing to provide. She felt weak being so terrified by the creature, when everyone else wasn't. When she surely had faced much worse situations, curse-related as well. She wasn't used to feeling that way. She was the strong one. Anna comforted others, not the other way around. But here she was, crashing down from a near panic attack, after almost being kissed by a member of the undead. Yet she felt herself getting closer to a calm state of mind as she nuzzled her face into the American's chest, wrapping her arms around his neck as his were wrapped around her waist.

"The curse, the curse," Henderson muttered nervously, running a hand through his hair.

After another moment, she started to get embarrassed so pulled away from him, crawling over to her gun, grabbing it before she climbed to her feet. She cleared her throat, and pushed past O'Connell to get to the exit, rushing out because she needed air. Rick moved to follow her, but Jonathan put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Give her a minute, old chap. She needs to collect herself."

When the four men and Evelyn joined Anna outside, she had a grim smile on her face, the red rims around her eyes the only indication that she had just been terrified mere moments ago. Rick stepped towards her, but she took a step back. She was distancing herself from him because she was ashamed of her behavior, but he thought it was because of him. Yet Rick let it go anyway. They had bigger problems.

"We need to visit the museum," Anna stated quietly. "There's got to be something about Hamunaptra, the mummy and this curse there. Let's get moving." And with that said, she set off without looking back to see if the others were following her.

All she heard was someone say, "Here we go again," and then heard five pairs of footfalls behind her. They needed answers quickly and they were going to get them, even if it meant that Anna had to read every book in that damn library. Not that she never had before... though it was a long time ago, and she was not going to nearly get kissed by some gooey mummy again.

"He seems to like Annie," Jonathan commented casually as they followed his two sisters who were almost on a rampage through the museum. Anna stiffened slightly as she walked, but made no acknowledgment of her brother speaking at all. Evelyn had noticed how somewhat affected her sister was by her brother's comment, and glared at him.

"Yeah, what's that about?" Rick questioned, but was once again ignored.

"What's this guy want?" Daniels asked, and this time Evelyn actually gave the American an answer.

"There's only one person I know who can possibly give us any answers," she said as she and Anna turned the corner and stalled. The curator was standing right in front of them, with the leader of the Medjai, who stared at them all with surprisingly little anger or hate... except maybe Anna, but she did not acknowledge it. She heard the drawing of guns behind her, but didn't draw her own. If he had come here to kill them or attack them, he would have brought more men.

"You!" Evelyn pointed at the man in black, with a voice that should have sounded angry, but came out surprisingly soft. Anna eyed her sister, and then the man and rolled her eyes.

"Do you really wanna get us into jail because of your little crush on a total stranger, Eve?" Anna groaned at her sister who gave her a sheepish look.

"Miss Carnahan. Miss Carnahan. Gentlemen," the curator greeted them in turn, smiling genuinely at the two women who appeared to be calm, and then giving a sardonic look towards the men still pointing their weapons at his guest.

"What is he doing here?" Anna questioned, surprising them all as her voice held no anger or suspicion as it usually did.

"Do you really want to know, or would you prefer to just shoot us?" the curator questioned, and Anna cast a look backwards at O'Connell, eyebrow arched as if to say  _'well?'_. He was a smart man, but a little slow on the uptake. She turned back, satisfied when she heard him holster his pistol again.

"I just saw my fist vanish into some guy's head... I'm willing to go on a little faith, here," he said, and the corners of Anna's mouth twisted up into a small smile, which disappeared just as quickly as it had arrived.

"You will not believe it," the curator said.

O'Connell gave him a challenging look. "Try me."

The group of six moved into the room and tried to get as comfortable as possible whilst waiting for the curator to explain the presence of a man who had tried to kill them once. Anna leaned against a wall, near the exit, her eyes constantly roaming over each individual and the other exits, but they would pause a little too long on O'Connell for her liking. He was sat in a chair, near to where her sister stood, and sometimes their eyes locked before she quickly averted hers. Then they both focused on the old man as he finally began to explain himself.

"We are part of an ancient secret society, the cult-of-the-Mumia, and we have a sacred mission, passed down through thirty-nine generations. For over three thousand years we have guarded The City Of The Dead. we are sworn at manhood to , do any and all in our power to stop the High Priest Imhotep from being reborn into this world," the curator said, but before he or the man in the black robes, who had yet to give a name, could continue, Anna interjected something with her usual brand of casual sarcasm.

"Yet, you couldn't stop a small librarian from raising him from the dead. You gentlemen are really upholding the standards of your ancestors," she sniped as she crossed her arms over her chest, and glared at them. Both men gave her a dark look before speaking again.

"And now, because of you, we have failed," the tribal man said simply.

"And you think this justifies the killing of innocent people?" Evelyn questioned, appalled, and Anna rolled her eyes.

These ancient societies were often full of lunatics and her sister asked that question? Sometimes Anna really had to question how naive her sister really was.

"To stop this creature? Let me think," the curator started, and then both he and the man in black continued in unison, "Yes!"

Evelyn stared at them for a moment before walking across the room, clearly bothered by their answer. Anna's eyes followed her younger sibling before they were drawn to her— though she wouldn't ever be stupid enough to admit it out loud— favorite American. She frowned, mentally shaking her head before looking over at her sister again and sighing.

"Evelyn, think of it in their perspective: sacrifice a few to save many. It may not be right, but they saved more people this way. You know many people are persistent. You and I, for example, so they had to find a way to stop others." She turned her gaze towards the two men. "I'm just surprised that you didn’t kill us as we were traveling through the desert."

"My men were as well, but I sensed that you were supposed to continue," said the Medjai leader.

Anna stared at him for a moment before sighing. "Okay, seriously— though completely off topic— what is your name because I keep referring to you in my head as either the Medjai leader, the stranger who tried to kill us and can possibly throw in jail if he doesn't, the tattooed man, and the stranger, and I honestly don't like facing a nameless face."

It seemed like forever since anyone in that room had laughed, and though they were barely chuckles, it felt good after the recent events.

"Ardeth Bay," he answered. Anna sighed— she seems to be doing that a lot more, lately— once more and nodded.

"Question," O'Connell said, raising a hand in the air to gain their attention. Like a school kid. "Why doesn't he like cats?"

Before the curator could answer, Anna did. "According to the ancients, cat's are the guardians at the gates of the underworld. He'll fear them until he is fully regenerated."

The curator and the Medjai nodded. "And then, he will fear nothing," Ardeth finished, clearly angry at the very thought of it.

"He's clearly angered by the thought," Jonathan commented, trying to hide his fear at the same thought.

"Yeah?" Anna said before shrugging, eyes glancing warily around. "Well, he and I, both."

"Right! And ya know how he gets fully regenerated?!" Daniels questioned.

"By killing everybody who opened that chest," Henderson said, quietly. Anna pitied them, though she didn't show any remorse. They had brought this curse upon themselves, and right now, she was slightly more worried about her brother and her sister, and herself as selfish as that was. And though she wouldn't admit ever, she was also worried about O'Connell as he was with them since the beginning and has pretty much gotten on the mummy's bad side from the start.

"And sucking us dry! That's how!" Daniels almost shouted, and Anna felt the need to interject.

"In any other situation, I would say a smug  _'I told you so'_ , but I don't think that's entirely applicable to this certain situation," Anna said, giving Henderson a meaningful look, which he shook his head at. He knew that she had told him that this would happen, but by the time she had given her warning it had already been too late.

"Stop playing with that," Evelyn snapped at Jonathan as he played with a bow on the back of a life-size model of Seti's chariot.

"Yes, the creature must first try and regenerate, and then he will attempt to resurrect the one he has loved for more than four thousand years," said the curator, ignoring the youngest and eldest Carnahans.

"Anck-su-namun," Evelyn suddenly said. The Curator and Ardeth looked at Evelyn, thunderstruck. "The creature has shown a odd fascination with my sister and I. Why is that?"

Everyone in the room turned their heads to stare at them both, mostly at Anna as if the answer would come to them just by gawping at her. Anna sighed in frustration, breathing slowly to get a handle on her anger. She couldn't for the life of her understand why she was angry, but she was.

"In the necropolis, he looked at my sister with what seemed like hatred, and called her Anck-su-namun. And just now again, in Burns' quarters," she said, though she groaned right after when they continued to stare at her expectantly. She knew that they knew that there was more to this story.

"He also called me Nebetia," she continued, noticing the curator and the Medjai leader slightly tense up, though disregarding it. "Then earlier, he called me that again... and then he tried to kiss me," she said, narrowing her eyes as she watched the curator and the black robed man exchange a look.

"It's because of his love for Anck-su-namun that he was cursed. He realized her fault in it when he was at ritual point and vowed to return to his true beloved— his wife Nebetia. Apparently, even after three thousand years..." the curator trailed off, and Ardeth continued for the old man.

"He might still be in love with her."

"Well that's romantic, and lovely, and slightly obsessive and everything, but what does that have to do with my sister?" Anna questioned, glaring at the two men who had all the answers, waiting for an answer. It is because it was you who read from the Book. He has chosen you to be-the human sacrifice needed to regenerate the body of Anck-su-namun.

"Perhaps he will once again try to raise her from the dead," the dark haired Medjai suggested. "Though this time for vengeance instead of love."

"And it appears he has chosen his human sacrifice needed to regenerate the body of Anck-su-namun."

Jonathan scratched his ear with the barrel of his pistol. "This is not good. Not good at all."

Anna's eye twitched, and her body stiffened before she nodded, swallowing hard as she frowned at the floor. "And me?"

"Perhaps he seeks to bring his beloved back to live with her eternally."

"And from the looks of it, you are her exact replica."

Evelyn, Jonathan and O'Connell had all frozen, their eyes lapsing onto Anna in concern.

Anna pinched the bridge of her nose, seemingly exasperated, before shaking her head at the three in disbelief. "He wants to have me possessed, Evy's the one he wants to kill. Why the hell are y'all worrying about me?"

They looked away, all frowning as they realized the truth in her words, but of course, how could they not worry about her too?

"Oh, this is just fantastic. 'Let's go see Evy, spend some time with her', I said. Now I'm the object of a three thousand year old mummy's misplaced affections, along with my sister!" Anna chuckled darkly to herself, running a hand across her head before she sighed and slid down the wall.

"Bad luck, old mum!" Jonathan said to his sister, though he was slightly more concerned then he let on. Both of his little sisters could end up being human  sacrifices! That certainly was not what his father had meant when he had asked Jonathan to look after his baby sisters should the worst ever happen.

"On the contrary, it may just give us the time we need to kill the creature," the curator enthused, ignoring the glare that the Carnahans and O'Connell were giving him.

"We will need all the help we can get. His powers are growing," Ardeth said, his eyes turned upwards towards the roof. They all moved towards him and followed his gaze, watching as the moon eclipsed the sun.

"Tonight is the full moon," Anna suddenly said, though she wasn't sure why.

Ardeth sent her a sideways glance and nodded, eyes going back to the now full eclipse. "The moon of Osiris. It will begin tonight."

"' _... and he stretched forth his hands towards the heavens, and there was darkness throughout the land of Egypt_ ,'" Jonathan said, quoting scripture once again, as the darkness descended upon them.


	11. The Regeneration

The second they returned to the Carnahan women's hotel room, Evelyn stated with a determined look on her face. "We must stop him from regenerating." She turned to look at Daniels and Henderson. "Who opened that chest?"

They had decided to go back there to regroup, and collect their thoughts and maybe... just maybe come up with a plan to kill the damn creature, before he could sacrifice the Carnahan sisters and take over the world.

"Well, there was me and Daniels here and then poor Burns of course," Henderson informed her, though Anna already knew exactly who had opened the chest. They all had the canopic jars and she had warned them.

"And that Egyptologist fella!" Daniels added, from his seat around the small, round table.

"What about my buddy, Beni?" O'Connell questioned.

"Naw, he scrammed outta there before we could open the damn thing," Daniels answered.

"Yeah, he was the smart one," Henderson added, smiling slightly, in spite of his misfortunes.

"Yeah that sounds like Beni," Rick muttered, coming to stand by the table.

They were silent for a moment before Evelyn spoke up. "We must find the Egyptologist."

"Yes, and bring him back here to the safety of the fort, before the creature can get to him," Anna added, crossing her arms over her chest.

O'Connell looked at the Carnahan sisters, eyes lingering on Anna. "Okay... you two, you wait here," he said, then pointed at the Americans, "you two come with me."

Then both men and the youngest Carnahan pounced on him at once.

"The hell with that!" Henderson exclaimed. "I'm not goin' nowhere! We're safe here."

"Yeah, I'm not leavin, this fort for nothin'," Daniels agreed with him.

"Who put you in charge?" Evelyn demanded. "You can't just leave me behind like some old suitcase. I'm the one responsible for this mess and I intend to be the one to clean it up."

O'Connell just shook his head and sighed, totally put-upon. Then he took Evelyn, threw her over his shoulder and stormed into Anna's bedroom, throwing the young woman on the bed before turning to look at Anna who had been silent this whole time. They gave each other challenging looks that seemed to last forever, to the point where O'Connell almost forgot why he was staring her down in the first place, though he quickly snapped out of it when she shrugged and walked into the room.

He raised an eyebrow at her, wondering why she wasn't putting up much of a fight.

She shrugged once more. "You can lock the door to make sure we don't get out, and even though I can easily pick a lock within ten seconds... I didn't get much sleep, last night. I'd like to get some shut-eye."

Rick was hesitant, but nodded all the same and closed the door, locking it in process. He turned and threw the skeleton key to Daniels, giving him a look that told him he was being serious.

"Keep an eye on them," O'Connell said.

"Yeah, yeah."

Rick frowned and stepped forward, grabbing Daniels and pulling him over to the door, glaring down at the shorter man.

"This door doesn't open. They don't come out, and no one goes in."

"O'Connell, make sure one of them brings me a drink!" Anna called through the door.

"And bring her a drink. She'll probably want some hard liquor, not something weak or lady-like," Rick said, still gripping the man's shirt. "But other than that... the door doesn't open. Right?"

"Right," Daniels repeated, almost gulping at the fierce expression on Rick's face. He knew then that O'Connell was sweet on that broad. The elder one, not the loud, bossy younger one. He wasn't surprised to be honest. The woman was different than most others.

Rick then turned his attention to Henderson, without letting Daniels go. "Right?"

"Right," Henderson mimicked, and Rick finally let Daniels go, stepping away from him.

"If you leave her door, I'll rip your spleen out," he warned before turning to the oldest Carnahan and nodding his head toward the exit. "C'mon, Jonathan."

Jonathan swallowed hard and pointed to himself. "Me?"

Rick rolled his eyes. "No, the cat," he replied sarcastically, grabbing Jonathan by the collar of his jacket, and dragging him out the door, muttering, "Who else?"

Evelyn stared at the door of the bedroom then shifted her gaze toward her sister, in disbelief. "You're letting him lock us in?!"

Anna sighed, running a hand down her face. "You've got bags under your eyes, Eve. This adventure is messing with your repose schedule. You need to catch up on your slumber."

Evelyn frowned as she watched her sister walk toward her wardrobe. "There's something else, isn't there?" Evelyn asked quietly as Anna brought a black nightgown out of the armoire and threw a white one at her sister.

"It's nothing," Anna mumbled, slipping her clothes off.

"It's not nothing, Anna," Evelyn said firmly. "You're having them again, aren't you?"

Anna sighed, pulling the nightgown over her head. "It's nothing," she repeated.

"No, it's not. Tell me," Evelyn insisted, stripping her own clothes off to put the white nightgown on.

Breathing in through her nose, Anna sauntered over to the bed and sat down. "There's no need to worry, Eve. They've toned down to simple nightmares, like I said: nothing."

Evelyn frowned, joining her sister on the bed. "Having night terrors is not nothing, Anne, and you know it. I'm here, you know. And so is Jonathan, though he may act idiotic most of the time, he's still our brother, and you can tell him anything, just like you can tell me anything."

Anna smiled a small smile, grabbing her sister's hand and holding it in hers. "I know, Evy. But really, they're almost gone. I'm okay."

Evelyn gave her a doubtful look, but let it go, lying down beside her sister. They both lay there for a moment, in silence, holding hands while staring up at the ceiling before Evelyn rolled onto her side and looked at her sister again.

"You know, you're going to have to tell about your wondrous adventures, eventually." Anna chuckled, making Evelyn smile. "I want to know who this mysterious Nathan Drake is."

Anna smiled at her sister. "You will. Now close your eyes and sleep." And with that said, they both drifted away into unconsciousness.

_Gazing out over a city at the setting sun was a gorgeous, ivory-skinned goddess, standing on a beautiful balcony with confused, sparkling eyes. It was Annabella Carnahan, of course, but she did not know where she was, nor could she understand what she was doing there. She glanced down at her slightly shivering self, feeling strangely revealing, and felt her jaw drop open as she noticed what she was wearing._

_Her body was covered in what appeared to be a skin-tight dress, though it wasn't, in fact, a dress at all, but rather her entire naked body that had been painted in the ancient Egyptian manner. She was a stunning sight to behold, and even though she usually wore slightly revealing clothes, this was not comfortable for her at all. There was also the fact that, from what she remembered reading, only women who were mistresses in that time used to dress so. This must be a dream then, and if she is aware of it, then that must mean she was lucid dreaming, something she was grateful for. At times like these, she would much rather be able to control her dreams than not._

_Frowning, she shifted her gaze back at the beautiful view when it finally clicked in her mind, and though she wasn't one hundred percent sure of herself, she had her suspicions. This had to be Thebes. Home of her ancestors. She was snapped out of her thoughts by quiet footsteps making their way toward her. Turning her head to glance at the open, large double wooden doors, her hazel green-specked eyes locked themselves with bright blue orbs._

_**What is it with guys and blue eyes?**  she silently wondered as the man entered the outer foyer and slowly approached her. The man looked quite familiar. She knew him, yet she didn't, and that only confused her more, the confusion frustrating her more and more._

_"Who are you?" she demanded, slightly shocking the daylights out of herself at, not only how soft and smooth her voice came out, but at the fact that she had fluently asked him the question in ancient Egyptian._

Beni was ransacking the joint, pulling out drawers and files and throwing them on the floor. He found a silver pocket watch, shook it, then threw it into his pocket, then he started tipping over bookcases and clearing shelves.

"Well, well, well." Beni spun around and felt his eyes widen in panic when he saw O'Connell and Jonathan standing by the door.

"Lemme guess, spring cleaning?" O'Connell said sarcastically.

Beni turned and ran for an open window. O'Connell grabbed a chair and flung it into his path, causing the coward to trip and crash into a wall. O'Connell strode over, grabbed him and lifted him up the wall. Beni's feet dangle off the floor.

"Where's your new friend?" Rick demanded.

"What friend? You're my only friend." Beni tried to play the innocent, though of course his act was as bad as his courage. O'Connell quickly slid his knife up under Beni's chin.

"Then you got no excuse for living," he growled. "What the hell you doin' being buddies with this creep, Beni? What's in it for you?"

"It is better to be the right hand of the Devil... than in his path. As long as I serve him, I am immune."

O'Connell gave him a puzzled look. "Immune from what?"

"You shall see," Beni sneered.

"What are you looking for? Lie, and I'll slit your throat." O'Connell shoved the knife deeper into Beni's skin.

"The book! The black book they found at Hamunaptra! Imhotep wants it back. Said to me it would be worth it's weight in diamonds."

"What does he want the book for?" Rick demanded.

Beni shrugged. "Something about bringing his dead girly-friends back to life. He needs the book..." He looked at Jonathan. "And your sisters."

O'Connell looked at Jonathan. Beni seized the moment and kneed O'Connell in the balls, causing the American to doubled over and collapsed. With that accomplished, Beni leaped out the window.

Jonathan cringed. "That looked rather painful."

O'Connell winced, stumbling onto his feet. "Ya know, ever since I met you, my luck has been for crap."

Jonathan gave him a sheepish look. "Yes, I know, I do that to people."

And that's when they heard a blood curdling scream coming from down in the bazaar. O'Connell and Jonathan scrambled to the window and look out...

_He stood before her and looked deeply into her eyes, his own filled with so much love that she could feel her knees weaken. The man was tall, handsome and muscular, and let's not forget his blue eyes, a trait that usually was the first thing to grab her attention from a man. It was silly and she knew it, but for some reason, blue eyes had always been her weakness._

_The man gave her a small smile, then replied, "I am Imhotep, High Priest of Osiris, Keeper of the Dead. And you are in Thebes, our home."_

_"Your gaze upon me shows recognition," she started, feeling uncomfortable with the idea that she actually felt slightly at ease in his presence. Slightly. "Why is that?" she asked, tilting her head to the side._

_He stood closer to her and lifted his hand to her face to caress it. She wanted to move away, but she couldn't find herself to do so. She felt so many emotions rush within her, the most repeated being betrayal and hurt, both of which she could not explain. Why was she feeling these feelings toward this stranger? Did it have something to do with one of her ancestors? Was it possible that that Medjai leader, Ardeth, was right about her being a reincarnation of some sort?_

_"Your beauty was indeed a gift, Nebetia," he murmured._

_Anna frowned and looked back toward the city. "There goes that name again," she said, more to herself, before looking back at Imhotep. "Whoever this Nebetia is, it's not me. My name is Annabella Carnahan. My mother was Egyptian, but my father was English, just like my siblings and I as we were born in London! I am not a Theban princess or what not!" **And why the hell am I not moving away from his touch?!**  she asked herself._

_They were silent for a moment as Imhotep continued to caress her face as if she were the most delicate piece of art in the universe, his eyes locked upon hers with so much love... but there was something else in there as well. There was guilt... as if he had done something to her, something unforgivable._

_"What... **who**  was Nebetia?" she asked quietly, finally calm._

_He sighed, but not once took his eyes from her or ceased his caresses. "Ancient Egyptian princess in our dynasty. Granddaughter of Pharaoh Khamudi, the last Hyksos ruler, and daughter of Menmaatre Seti, successor of Pharaoh Khamudi, King of Egypt." He stopped, for a moment, his caresses, and looked down at her with amused eyes. "She was the first example of a Pharaoh's granddaughter bearing the title of King's daughter, a title which normally belongs only to women whose fathers actually ruled. Incidentally, hers did."_

_Anna looked at him for a moment, brows furrowed and lips pursed. "Who was she... to **you**?" she asked slowly._

_His hand dropped from her face. "A close... friend," he murmured. "The closest I ever had."_

_Annabella narrowed her eyes at him. She knew that wasn't all this Nebetia was to him. "There's more... I know it," she whispered. She was suddenly afraid of what his answer might be, though she knew that she needed to know._

_Imhotep finally shifted his gaze from hers, gazing out at the city. "She was my betrothed." Anna's body went rigid. "No other man was allowed to touch her."_

_She could now feel pure anger coursing through her veins, other than the hurt and betrayal. "Just as you never did," she stated angrily. "You couldn't find it yourself to do it before you wedded her, though you could not wait any longer, so you went for one of **her**  closest friends who turned out to be her father's mistress." That made him freeze._

_He looked back down at her, hiding the guilt behind an emotionless mask as he stared her down cautiously. "How much do you remember of your past life?"_

_"Nothing," she replied coldly. "I don't remember being Nebetia, nor do I remember knowing you or anything. My only knowledge is of inexplicable familiarity and what I've studied."_

_"Then how do you seem to know most of what happened?" he asked, somewhat curious._

_She slightly shrugged. "Common sense, logic... that, and the fact that you just confirmed it."_

Down in the bazaar, people were screaming and quickly backing away from the shriveled corpse of the Egyptologist. A partially decayed hand reached down and took the sacred canopic jar out of the Egyptologist's shriveled hand. It was Imhotep, having regenerated even further.

He looked up and caught eyes with O'Connell. The Priest grinned, then unhinged his jaw, his mouth stretching to an inhuman size as, then, a huge swarm of flies came out of his mouth and raced straight up at O'Connell and Jonathan. They both slammed the shutters,  the flies slamming into the closed window and immediately spreading throughout the bazaar, sending people screaming and running.

_They looked at each other for a moment, silent once more. There were so a many things she wanted to know, but as the saying goes "there is a time for everything," she knew she had to be patient as that capacity to accept and tolerate such delays was a virtue._

_"She was your closest friend, your betrothed... she loved you and don't give me that look_ _— I may not be her, but I can somehow feel those distant feelings that once belonged to her. She **loved** you, and you betrayed her— you broke her," Anna said, now glaring at him. "She went from being a happy, preppy... slightly rebellious princess, to some sort of depressed, ruthless, killing knight. All because you practically ripped her heart out— might as well done just that."_

_He sighed. "I know I did." Anna's brow twitched. "She did not deserve what I did to her."_

_"Dang right, she didn't." Annabella scoffed. "And bringing her back won't change anything, you know." He didn't say anything. "Either you do or you don't, nothing you say to her now will ever make it right."_

_She sighed. "Look, this may sound harsh, but seriously, it's been over three thousand years. Get over it, move on... forgive, forget, you know? Forgive yourself for what you did. It was a mistake, yes, but here's the thing, everybody makes mistakes. That's what makes us human... well, you're kind of... not..." She frowned, feeling uncomfortable once more._

_Shaking her head, she continued. "You're kind of dead, but really. Forgive yourself and forget it. It's time to move on."_

_He shook his head. "I love her... I want to be able to apologize to her personally..."_

O'Connell and Jonathan look at each other, panicked.

O'Connell ran a hand through his dark, dirty blond hair. "Dammit! That's two down and only two to go."

"And then he'll be coming after Annie and Evy," Jonathan exclaimed, panicked. With that reminder, they turned and raced out of the Egyptologist's office.

Back at the suite, Henderson sat in a chair next to Anna's door, chain smoking. Daniels was staring out a window, watching the British guards at the front gate. Both look wired with fear. More Soldiers marched the encircling parapet.

"Ten O'clock! All is well!" one of them shouted. The lights and music from the Casbah come up from below.

"The hell with this. I'm goin, downstairs to get me a drink," Daniels said.

"Weren't you supposed to do that long ago and bring one for the Misses?"

Daniels rolled his eyes. "You want somethin'?"

"Yeah, get me a glass of bourbon, a shot of bourbon and a bourbon chaser. And don't forget to bring some for Carnahan. Don't wanna get shot in the shoulder."

Daniels nodded and headed out. Henderson just sat there, alone, smoking. He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out his sacred canopic jar and fondled it. A breeze suddenly came in through the open window. The curtains fluttered. Henderson got up and went over to shut it. He looked out the window. He turned around, and just as he was about to scream, he was lifted into the air by a mass of swirling sand. His body twisted and turned, and slowly shriveled as the life was sucked out of him. Then he collapsed to the floor.

On the wall above him, the shadow of the swirling sand condensed, forming a shadow of a human body. The shadow convulsed as the body regenerated.Then when it was over, the man who looked almost normal now, his face no longer decayed, stepped over Henderson's shriveled body and up to Anna's door, and rattled the knob. It was locked. The man grinned.

Anna and Evelyn were asleep in Anna's bed as sand began streaming in through the keyhole, pouring onto the floor, forming a large mound. Anna started to toss and turn while Evelyn simply frowned slightly.

_"And what of Anck-su-namun, huh? You're not only using me, you're dragged my sister into this for your little ritual. Why the hell are planning to bring her back? Revenge?" She shook her head at him. "I can see it in your eyes— you still love her as well." Again, he did not answer, making her sigh and shake her head once more. "Even after all this time, you still chose to hurt the woman who had put all her trust in you. She's undoubtedly happy at Osiris' side. She won't want to come back to life, even less to speak with you."_

_"I know."_

_"If you know, then why continue to try?" She frowned once more. "I now know why the Medjai didn't kill me. I'm one of them— a guardian of Thebes, guarding... whatever, but it's my duty to protect the world."_

_"All I want is a chance," he murmured, taking a step closer to her, causing her to automatically take a step back, only to be stopped by the rail of the balcony._

O'Connell and Jonathan raced into the foyer and skid to a stop when they saw Henderson's shriveled body on the floor. O'Connell ran up to Anna's door and rattled the knob, still locked. He bent down and looked in through the keyhole.

_She felt bad, but she knew she had to stop him. "A chance she probably won't give you."_

_He lifted his hand once more and caressed her jaw._

_"I will stop you," she warned, inwardly panicking._

_"The best warrior will win then, but I will still come for you, Princess Nebetia... just one chance," he whispered before crashing his lips onto hers._

_**This is wrong** , she thought as she found herself kissing him back. His hands roamed over her perfect body, smearing the paint. The action was so full of love and passion, love and passion she did not feel for him, yet she was responding because of the affection her past self felt. _

_But she couldn't let this go on._

_Her present self felt nothing for this man, nor would she ever. She placed her hands on his chest and tried to push him away, but to no avail. He was stronger than her and surely wasn't looking to give her up any time soon._

Evelyn's eyes snapped open. She blinked a few times, then, when her vision was finally clear, she screamed, rolling off the bed and kneeling beside it, waking Anna in the process. Her eyes snapped open when she felt the pressure on her lips and she screamed as well at the sight before her. She struggled to reach for her knife that was beneath her pillow. She had a knife and her two pistols strapped to her body, but the creature had cut off her access to those, so she just had to hope that the one she had placed under the pillow was still there. Once her fingers curled round it, she shoved it between its ribs.

And then the door burst open and O'Connell and Jonathan stepped in, almost casually. O'Connell moved a little further into the room and the creature looked at him, like a giant would a fly, but leaned slightly away from Anna. She shoved him away even further, disgusted. Imhotep's putrid mouth grimaced in sadness, but she paid it no mind as she continued to try to get out of his grip.

"Get your hands off my girl, pal," Rick growled.

Imhotep's sadness turned to anger as he spun around and faced O'Connell. Imhotep licked his fetid lips. She shuffled across the bed towards her sister, who pulled her off the bed and into her arms, and began stoking her hair as though she was about to break down, which wasn't that unlikely. Imhotep, a still slightly mummified creature of the undead, had just forced his mouth on hers while she slept. She felt violated in the worst way.

O'Connell smirked. "Nice lips." Imhotep started to move toward him. "I figured you might be here, so I brought a friend." He threw the white cat at Imhotep, who instinctively caught it.

He shrieked, dropped the cat and stumbled back towards the window, which suddenly blew open like the last time. Imhotep spun like a dervish and burst into a whirlwind of sand. Everybody covered their eyes. The Imhotep sand-devil exploded out the window and vanished over the compound. Jonathan aimed his gun at the window, his hand shaking badly. O'Connell took Anna from Evelyn's arms and hugged her as she wiped her mouth in disgust. Daniels walked in, looked at Henderson's shriveled body on the floor and dropped the martini glasses.

"I could have used that bloody drink now," Anna breathed as she furiously continued to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand, in an attempt to get the feel of the creature's 'mouth' off of hers. She didn't think anything could remove the feel of the mummy's mouth from hers at any point in time. She would be feeling it on her death bed.

"You alright?" Rick questioned, concerned for her.

"I'm not sure," her brother replied, and both Anna and Rick glared at him.

"Of course she's not all right! A creature of the undead just forced himself on her while she was asleep!" Evelyn shouted at the thoughtless American. He looked affronted but didn't say anything because technically the youngest Carnahan had a point.

"I'm fine, Evy. It was just... a... kiss." Anna shuddered at the memory as she rose to her feet and walked around the bed until she was on her right side again. "Yes, I was asleep. And yes, it wasn't a living person. And yes, it was a mummy who has been trying to kill us." She didn't notice her own voice rising a few octaves higher at every sentence she spoke. "But I am fine. Though it was a kiss that left me wanting to puke, I won't lose my head about this. I'm just going to move on, grab my weapons and blow the bastard up with some dynamite."

"That's my girl!" Jonathan said as he moved towards her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "But what do we do before then?"

"We go back to the museum obviously. We need to kill the creature, ergo we need to find the key to killing him. And then we'll find that we need the Book of Amun-Ra to send his soul back to the underworld, which we will find directions to in the museum," Anna said, as she leaned into her brother's embrace. Jonathan may be a coward, and a cheat, and a liar, and a thief, but he was her older brother and he was always there to comfort her when she really needed him. Which in truth was more often then she cared to admit.

"Then let's go," Rick said, expecting them to all follow him out the room, but when he realized that only two out of three of the Carnahan's had followed him, he back-pedaled to Anna's bedroom.

He looked around the room as he couldn't see her, until he looked down and spotted her legs poking out from underneath the bed. He stared at them for a moment, eyes slowly shifting lower and lower, but then he quickly tore them away, remembering that he was trying to be a gentleman with her. He cleared his throat before he spoke, so she knew that he was in the room with her.

"What are you doing?" he questioned, smirking in amusement at the curse that tumbled out of the woman's mouth as she hit her head on the bottom of the bed. Obviously the throat clearing wasn't much of a warning.

"I'm grabbing my weapons. We'll need them," Anna's voice murmured as she wriggled backwards, slinging the bag across the room until it stopped by his feet. Anna's face emerged and she sighed as Rick held out a hand to help her up. She took it and he hauled her to her feet. She gave him a grateful smile before she picked up her weapons bag.

"Are you sure you're fine? It's okay if you're not... you did just get kissed by a gooey mummy," Rick said, stopping her from leaving the room by a firm hand on the arm.

"I'm fine, Rick," she snapped, yanking her arm out of his grip before storming towards the door. Rick watched her and was about to follow her when she stopped, and smiled at him. This woman was going to give him whiplash with her mood swings. "But in case you're really worried, you're the better kisser."

And with that she breezed out the door, leaving the American to trail behind her, grinning to himself in victory. Though if he had thought about it more, he would have realized that it wasn't much of a victory to win against a mummy who had basically defiled her mouth while she slept.

As soon as they stepped out, where Evelyn and Daniels were waiting, Jonathan raced his big convertible through the streets, honking constantly. Evelyn sat between him and Anna, looking scared and nervous. Anna squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, then gave O'Connell a look as he settled on her free side.

"Why did you?" she asked.

He looked down at her and gave her a puzzled look. "What?"

"You called me your girl. Why?"

O'Connell could feel his cheeks slightly heat up as he suddenly felt like a school boy. "What... Oh, yeah, that was just um, you know, figure a speech."

Anna fought back a smirk. "I think you were jealous."

"Jealous? You kiddin' me?"

Anna shrugged. "I actually had a dream about him." O'Connell raised an eyebrow at her to which she nodded and hummed in confirmation. "He was quite the looker, if I do say so myself."

"Yeah? Well, did you see that guy's face, now?"

Daniels leaned forward from the back seat, filled with fear. "Shut-up! JUST SHUT-UP! We gotta do somethin'! We gotta do somethin'! NOW! Before it's too late!"

And with that, they raced into the driveway of the museum of Antiquities as a full moon now shone down on the bazaar, still bustling with activity. Suddenly, a breeze kicked in. Green mist began to swirl down the street and through the stalls. The people began to choke and cough and retch, as if being hit by a severe sickness.

It was already too late.

Imhotep strolled through the sickened mob, his face half rotted off, his deformed mouth grinning happily. Beni was at his side, looking very nervous. And then, one-by-one, the people silently began to follow Imhotep, their skin now covered in disgustingly hideous boils and sores.

Once at the Ramesseum, O'Connell, Jonathan, Daniels, the Curator and Ardeth followed Anna and Evelyn as both women strode through the museum.

"Last month I came across an inscription that mentioned The Book Of The Dead," Evelyn said.

"I think I may have come across it a while back," Anna wondered aloud.

"It was the stone I showed you before you left the last time," Evelyn informed her.

Anna frowned. "Eve, you've shown me many. Which one?" Then something clicked in her head. "Was the black one? With the ends...." Evelyn nodded.

"About that book we found at Hamunaptra?" Daniels asked.

"Yes." Evelyn nodded once again. "I dismissed it, because it talked about bringing people back from the dead. A notion I was unwilling to believe."

"Believe it, sister," O'Connell said, falling into pace with her and Anna. "That's what brought our buddy back to life."

"And now he's going to use it to bring his girlfriend back," Jonathan said. "Or should I say, girlfriends."

Anna rolled her eyes and groaned exasperatedly. "Can we just put aside the fact that he's a mummified two-timing freak?"

"If he succeeds, the two of them together will bring about the apocalypse," Ardeth said. The Curator joined Anna and Evelyn at their side as they headed up the stairs, everyone else in hot pursuit.

"The plagues we have seen so far, are merely Imhotep flexing his muscles. only at the moment of Anck-su-namun's resurrection will he be truly invincible," said the curator.

They reached the display cases and Evelyn quickly opened them. "I'm thinking that if the black Book Of The Dead can bring people back to life—"

"— then perhaps, the golden Book Of The Living can return them to the underworld," the curator guessed.

"Exactly," said the Carnahan women in unison.

O'Connell frowned. "So your sayin', if we find the book made outta gold—"

"— And read the sacred incantations contained inside it," the curator continued.

"You think it'll send this guy back to hell?"

"Correct."

And that was when loud chanting was heard coming from outside. They all rushed over to the upper windows and look down to where a large, crazed mob covered in hideous boils and sores came chanting up the driveway, "Anck-su-namun! Nebetia!"

"That guy really is a mummified two-timing freak," Anna muttered to herself in disbelief.

"Last but not least, my favorite plague... boils and sores," Jonathan said as the crowd grew closer.

"It has begun," Ardeth announced. "The beginning of the end."

Anna shook her head. "Not quite yet it hasn't. C'mon." She dashed back to the display cases, pulling her sister along as everyone else followed.

The crazed mob crashed into the huge front doors, which were locked. They pounded furiously, throwing themselves at it while chanting constantly. Imhotep solemnly came up the driveway. The banging on the doors could be heard as Anna, Evelyn and the Curator quickly sorted through broken pieces of stone tablets. The others watched. Anna pulls out a large piece.

Jonathan was quickly getting more and more nervous. "Come on, Annie, Evy, faster."

"Patience is a virtue," both sisters said in unison, sharing a knowing smile.

"Yeah? Well, now's not really the time," Rick said, earning himself two sideways glares.

After a few more seconds, a slight grin lit up Anna's face. "Got it!" she exclaimed happily.

"Got what?" Rick asked.

The banging got louder and multiple windows began to shatter.

Anna talked while quickly translating the tablet. "Since the black Book of The Dead was found inside the statue of Anubis, then according to this..." Anna trailed off as her sister peeked over her shoulder to read as well.

Evelyn narrowed her eyes in concentration as she continued to read in her sister's place. "The golden Book of The Living should be inside..." Both sisters found the translation in the tablet and smiled at each other.

"What?" O'Connell demanded.

"What?" Jonathan echoed.

"WHAT!?" Daniels shouted desperately.

Anna breathed out, "The golden Book Of The Living, is inside the statue of Koz-us."

"Which would be located not far to the east of the Anubis statue." Evelyn grinned. "Ha! Take that, Bembridge scholars!"

O'Connell looked at them in disbelief. "Don't tell me we gotta go back out there?"

"If we want to kill the creature, yes," the curator said.

Two hideous boil and sore-covered men charged through the door, screaming. O'Connell and Ardeth grabbed them and chucked them over the railing. The men flew through the air and crashed into the lower display cases. The front doors suddenly burst open and the crazed mob poured into the museum. Our heroes quickly ran across the balcony and down the staircase, leading towards the exit.

Jonathan was, surprisingly, smart and snuck out, unseen. He jumped out of some bushes and quickly headed for his convertible when, suddenly, a splinter group of the diseased mob came around the side of the museum.

Jonathan instantly bugged his eyes out, started drooling, and began chanting, "Anck-su-namun! Nebetia!"

The crazed group ran past him and headed into the front doors of the museum. Jonathan leaped into the convertible, fired it up and 180's it back over to the bushes. Anna, O'Connell, Evelyn, Daniels, Ardeth and the Curator jumped inside the car.

Beni stepped out of the museum and saw them. "Imhotep! IMHOTEP!"

They heard the familiar nasal voice and turned to see Beni on the steps of the museum entrance, shouting upwards. Anna followed his line of sight and there was the undead bastard standing in front of the very window they had looked out of mere moments ago.

Imhotep looked out of the museum from the shattered upper windows just as the convertible peeled out. O'Connell pointed a finger at Beni as they raced past him.

"You're gonna get yours, Beni! You hear me?" O'Connell shouted at the weasel of a man, pointing at him angrily as Jonathan pealed away. "You're gonna get yours!"

The convertible hauled down the narrow bazaar street. Crazies started jumping out of stalls and leaping onto the car. Anna, O'Connell and the others fought them off, throwing them overboard. More people jumped on. Jonathan swerved the car, crashed through some stalls, knocking them off, but not before they managed to open the back door and yank Daniels out, causing him to tumble across the pavement.

He got up and started shooting as he backed into a corner, firing his pistol into the hideous rabble, killing several, keeping them at bay. His gun went empty, CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! But the mob stayed back, looking at him like rabid vultures. Daniels eyed them, filled with fear. The mob parted like the red sea as Imhotep walked through them and up to Daniels. Daniels whimpered in fear, tears pouring down his cheeks. Then he got an idea, reaches into his pocket, and pulled out his jewel encrusted sacred canopic jar. He held it out for Imhotep, who took it and grinned. Through his tears, Daniels grinned back, hopeful that he'll be spared.

Though a few seconds later, somewhere in the middle of the crazed, diseased mob, a blood curdling scream emitted from where Daniels had last been.

The convertible slowly motored down the narrow alleys. Ardeth and the Curator were still in the back, while Evelyn sat in the front, between her brother and sister, who was squished between her and O'Connell. All of them stared out the front windshield, freaked-out. Then, suddenly, one of the hideous ghouls crashed through the windshield! Everybody screamed. Jonathan hit the gas, though lost control, causing the car to slam into a wall. O'Connell grabbed Anna, who in turn, grabbed Evelyn and kept her as close as possible.

"C'mon! C'mon! Let's go! Let's go!" O'Connell ushered.

They all leaped out of the car, but the angry, festering mob quickly surrounded them. O'Connell quickly reached into his gunny-sack, pulled out a stick of dynamite, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a match. He looked around for a way to light it, then reached over and stroke it across Ardeth's stubbly face, causing the Medjai to yelp, startled.

O'Connell held the lit match near the fuse. The crazed, chanting mob gave O'Connell a wide berth, staring at him and the others with insane, bloodshot eyes. And then Imhotep stepped through, having fully regenerated, he now looked as young and handsome and muscular as he did the day he was buried alive, and in Anna's dream.

Evelyn stared at him. "He's gorgeous."

"Told ya, he was quite the looker," Anna mumbled, staring at the man, not noticing the look O'Connell gave her and her sister. The match burned his fingers, making him yelp and throw it down before grabbing another, striking it across Ardeth's face again. The Medjai yelped again and gave O'Connell a look to kill as the Curator shook his head.

"He has consummated the curse," said the Curator. "Now all he needs do is raise Anck-su-namun and Nebetia from the dead, then it will be the end of us, and the beginning for them."

Anna stared at the regenerated man, nose scrunched, before cursing under her breath. "Stupid, horribly gorgeous, fully regenerated, previously mummified, two-timing freak," she muttered.

O'Connell looked at her for a long moment before chuckling, despite the dangerous situation. "That is some description."

"Tell me about it," Jonathan breathed out.


	12. Back to Hamunaptra

Imhotep moved forward, heading right for them. O'Connell lit the fuse just as the regenerated man stepped up to him, only to stop, watching the fuse burn down. It was a game of chicken. The tension mounted and the lit fuse was about to vanish inside the stick of dynamite, blowing it up, when Anna leaned forward and blew it out. O'Connell exhaled, but kept his eyes on Imhotep, who extended his hands to Anna and Evelyn.

" _Keetah mi pharos, aja nilo, isirlan_ ," he said softly.

Beni stepped through the swarming mass and translated. "Come with me, my princess and my queen," Beni said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes when he realized who the supposed queen was.  _Huh. Such a vulgar woman for a queen? Who would've thought so?_  "It is time to make you both mine, forever."

Evelyn gave Beni a nasty look and corrected him. "For all eternity, idiot."

"That's really not the issue right now, Evy," Anna muttered at her sister, who was still gripping her arm tightly.

" _Koontash dai na_ ," said Imhotep.

"Take his hands and he will spare the others," Beni translated, now trying to fight back a smirk.

Anna hesitated, looking around at the huge, bloodthirsty crowd surrounding them, holding axes, picks and scimitars, waiting to pounce, then she looked at Imhotep, confident, powerful, invincible. Her heart clenched when her sister grasped her arm out of fear, reminding, in a way, that she was going to be taken as well.

Anna looked at O'Connell. "Any bright ideas?" she asked, handing Jonathan her bag of weapons.

O'Connell talked through angry, gritted teeth. "Sorry, fresh out."

She looked back at Imhotep, then both, her and her sister, started to reach out to, each, take a hand. Both O'Connell and Jonathan moved to stop them, but Ardeth grabbed both men and held them tight.

"Don't do it, Anna, you too Eve," Rick pleaded, his voice thick with emotion.

He'd never had a sibling before, but ever since he met Evelyn and Jonathan, no matter how utterly messed up the older Carnahan was, they were both like a brother and sister whose company he had come to cherish. He had never been one to love either, but if he were to admit ever feeling that way, he knew it would only be toward one person, and that person was Annabella. He had fallen hard for her, and despite their ups and downs— despite all their arguments, through the hellish trip, she somehow managed to fix him. Instead of breaking like glass while falling for her, she turned him into a rubber ball, so he could bounce back up instead of breaking. He didn't want to lose that.

"We have no choice," Anna whispered.

Then she looked at O'Connell and put on her best face. "You better think of something, because if he turns me or my sister into a mummy, either way, I'll make sure you're the first one we're coming after," she said.

O'Connell almost smiled. "Got guts, lady," he breathed out. Evelyn's trembling hand touched Imhotep's left one.

"Yes, I know, and I'd like to keep them," Anna mumbled as she stepped forward, toward the Priest. Her cold, slightly sweating hand touched his right one. He closed his hands around theirs and smiled when nothing happened.

"No," Rick said as he pulled out one of his pistols and aimed it at Imhotep.

"Don't!" both Carnahan women cried out as the Medjai leader tried to force Rick's arm down so he couldn't shoot at the creature. 

"He has to take us to Hamunaptra to perform the ritual," Anna explained.

"She is right. Live today, fight tomorrow," Ardeth said as Anna and Rick stared at each other meaningfully. She was telling him not to mess things up, and he reluctantly put away his gun.

And then Anna did something that surprised everyone. She wrenched her arm away from Imhotep and walked back over to Rick, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"If it's too late... if something happens to me before anything happens to Evy, I need you to save her, and then look after her and Jonathan. I won't make you promise because that's not fair, but that is my last request... Rick," she whispered in his ear, and then she pulled away, quickly pressing a soft kiss on his cheek, before she let Imhotep, who had a look of anger, grab her again.

"I'll be seeing you again," Rick said to Imhotep, his eyes glistening with tears at Anna's words.

They were about to turn around when Imhotep suddenly noticed something. He reached forward and ripped the strange four-sided key, which they had all once thought of as a puzzle box, out of Jonathan's upper jacket pocket.

"Hey that's mine—" Ardeth held Jonathan back. Imhotep wrapped his arm around Anna's waist and tightened his grip on Evelyn's hand before pulling both women away. O'Connell couldn't take it anymore.

He tried to break free of Ardeth's grip. "Anna! Evelyn!"

The huge, powerful man held him tight. "Be calm. There is still time. We can stop him yet."

The crowd parted for Imhotep, Anna and Evelyn. And then Imhotep stopped and looked back at O'Connell.

" _Pared oos_ ," he ordered.

Evelyn's eyes widened in terror and screamed in agony as her sister shouted, "NOOO!!"

Beni smiled. "Kill them."

Imhotep pulled both women away. O'Connell broke free of Ardeth's grip and stumbled forward. "ANNA! EVELYN!"

But the rabid vultures were already moving in for the kill. O'Connell quickly bent down, pulled open a cistern manhole cover and shoved Jonathan down inside it, then jumped in after him.

The Curator pushed Ardeth towards the cistern hole. "Go! Find a way! Kill the creature!"

The Curator turned and threw himself at the mob as Ardeth crawled down into the hole, leaving the mob to tear the Curator apart.

O'Connell, Jonathan and Ardeth sloshed their way down the watery catacomb, crazies pouring in behind them. Up ahead, a light suddenly shone in from another cistern hole, and then more of the infected crowd dropped down, screeching like rats. O'Connell jagged right, pushing Jonathan and Ardeth ahead of him, he stroke a match off the wall, lit the nubby fuse on a stick of dynamite, threw it, and ran like hell. The fire blast incinerated a bunch of crazies.

The explosion blew a cistern cover fifty feet into the air, followed by a mass of flamage.

A sewer grate was soon kicked out of a wall. O'Connell, Jonathan and Ardeth climbed out of the hole and into an alley.

"We gotta get her... them back," said O'Connell.

Jonathan nodded, breathing hard from all the running. "I'm with you, old man. No one touches my sisters like that and gets away with it."

O'Connell looked at Ardeth, "You know where he's taking them?"

Ardeth nodded somberly. "Yes. To Hamunaptra. To perform the ritual. Did you not listen to her?"

Jonathan ignored the man's last comment and asked, with a look of worry on his paled face, "And what ritual would that be?"

"The ritual to bring the body of Anck-su-namun back to life," Ardeth replied.

"And how does one do that?"

Ardeth's features darkened. "By reading the Book Of The Dead."

"Oh yes, of course," Jonathan said sarcastically.

"And then killing your sister."

Jonathan froze. "Excuse me?"

Ardeth looks at O'Connell. "Imhotep is now able to cross the desert with great haste."

Jonathan tapped him in the shoulder, "Begging your pardon, but I wasn't quite clear on that last part."

Ardeth ignored him. "If he arrives before us..."

"Did you say 'kill' my sister? What about Anna?"

"If Imhotep manages to bring Nebetia's spirit back from the dead, he will have her posses Miss Carnahan's body. By then, she will be as good as dead. Her own spirit will be lost within Death's grasp," Ardeth replied before repeating what he was going to say previously. "If he arrives before us, it will be too late."

O'Connell smiled grimly. "I know how to beat him to it."

And on that note, they went to meet someone O'Connell knew wouldn't pass out on an adventure like this. The three men went to seen Winston Havlock. The old pilot they had previously encountered drunk. The stood before him, the massive dunes of Erfoud as their background.

"So what's your little problem got to do with His Majesty's Royal Air Corp?"

"Not a god-damned thing," O'Connell said fighting back a smirk as he noticed how intrigued the old pilot looked.

"Is it dangerous?"

"You probably won't live through it," Rick replied.

This really interested Winston. "By Jove, do you really think so?"

Jonathan shrugged. "Everybody else we've bumped into has died, why not you?"

Winston nodded his head. He was hooked. "So what's the challenge then?"

"To save two damsels in distress, kill the bad guy and steal his treasure."

A slow grin spread across Winston's face, then he gave them a snappy salute. "Winston Havlock at your service, sir!"

Way off across the desert, a large sand-devil raced over the dunes. The sandy whirlwind came to a stop and started to dissipate. Evelyn and Beni were suddenly ejected out of it, they land in a dune.

When she noticed Beni had landed on top of her, she started swatting at him as if he were a fly and shrieked, "Get off me! Get off!" until he finally got off.

"I need a new job," he muttered, feeling slightly light-headed.

The swirling sand condensed and formed into Imhotep, who had a dizzy Anna in his arms. She clutched her pounding head, eyes closed, and when she finally opened, her eyes widened and she quickly pulled out of the man's grasp. He frowned at her action, but shook his head and looked into the sky, listening carefully. Evelyn, who was still on the floor not so far away, shook the sand out of her hair and looked at Beni.

"What just happened?" she asked as Anna rushed over to her and got to her knees beside her to see if she was alright.

The skittish man wasn't so sure of what happened either. "All I remember is him turning into a blast of sand... and then I remember nothing."

Then they heard a plane in the sky and looked up.

Anna felt herself slowly starting to smile. "O'Connell," she murmured, voice filled awe and longing

Imhotep frowned at, then turned to glare at the plane.

The wind whipped at Winston in the cockpit. O'Connell sat in the gunner's compartment. Jonathan was strapped spread-eagle across the left wing, Ardeth tied tightly to the right. Both men were scared out of their wits and screaming in fear, while O'Connell and Winston were grinning their heads off.

Imhotep unhinged his jaw, opening his mouth to an inhuman size, only to let fly, with another one of his horrible shrieks, a massive wall of sand, which rose up out of the desert. O'Connell watched the desert below him come alive and rise up towards the plane. Winston looked over the side and saw what was coming. He laughed, threw the throttle, and put the plane into a dive.

"Hang on, men!" he shouted.

The sandstorm chased the diving, twisting biplane, getting closer and closer, about to engulf it. O'Connell looked back into the blinding sand and saw a giant face forming inside the sandstorm. It was Imhotep, grinning. O'Connell grabbed the Lewis machine-gun, cocked the bracket and fired, blasting away at Imhotep's giant face inside the sandstorm. Imhotep's face began to laugh, then his jaw unhinged, his mouth opening wide, and he engulfed the plane.

Winston blindly fought for control, elated. "We're going down!"

The biplane spun inside the blowing sand, engines roaring, wind howling, Jonathan and Ardeth screaming.

Winston Havlock laughing his ass off. "Here I come, laddies!"

O'Connell could do nothing but himself for impact.

Anna watched the scene defile before her, in horror. She then leaped onto her feet and ran over to Imhotep. "Stop it! You'll kill them!"

"That's the idea!" Beni replied, earning himself a glare from both sisters.

Before Anna could spit out any foul words, Imhotep grabbed her, pulled her close, her beautiful eyes staring into his shockingly intense ones, then kissed her, hard. Evelyn's mouth dropped open in shock and disgust while Anna's eyes simply widened, stunned and mesmerized for a moment before she pushed herself away and fell back into the sand as Imhotep smirked and walked off.

Beni, who was now on his feet, stood awkwardly. "I loved the whole sand-wall trick. It was beautiful," he said, earning himself a glare from the youngest Carnahan who stood. Though he really seemed to have done it with Anna who looked like she would kill him with her simple nail... which she probably could if she wanted to.

"Would you shut up?!" she growled at him. "I don't want to hear your voice anymore, and if I do, you'll find yourself without a tongue, do you understand?!" And with that, she grabbed her sister's hand and both followed the Priest, leaving the skittish man to stumble behind them.

The biplane smashed over a dune, rolled over and crashed upside-down into another dune. The sand swirled as O'Connell fell out of the gunner's compartment.

The left wing was jammed into the dune, Jonathan hung upside down. "Excuse me... A little help would be useful... IF IT'S NOT TOO MUCH TROUBLE!!"

O'Connell went to help Jonathan. Ardeth stumbled over to the gunner's compartment and tore the Lewis gun off it's mount. He threw the machine-gun over one shoulder, a cartridge belt over the other and staggered away.

O'Connell and Jonathan looked into the cockpit, only to find the brave ol' Winston Havlock dead, a smile on his face. The plane suddenly started to move, the sand sinking under their feet. They quickly high-tailed it away. O'Connell, Jonathan and Ardeth made it to some rocks and looked back. The biplane, with Winston inside, slid away over a dune, O'Connell giving it a salute as it vanished over the dune and into the swirling sand.

O'Connell, Jonathan and Ardeth came down a ravine in the volcano and looked out over the ruins of Hamunaptra.

"Okay, now what the hell does this Horus guy look like?" O'Connell demanded.

"He's a big fellow with pointy ears and a face like a falcon," Jonathan said.

O'Connell nodded. "Got it." And with that, they set off into Hamunaptra.

Anna and Evelyn followed Imhotep into the underground cemetery. Evelyn stopped at the sight of all the big hairy rats scurrying through the mausoleums and over the gravestones, instinctively grabbing onto Anna's arm. Beni shoved his rifle into their backs, trying to act tough, and pushed them forward.

"Keep moving," he muttered.

Anna gave him a look. "You know, nasty little fellows, such as yourself, always get their comeuppance."

Beni seemed to laugh at her words, but seeing the serious look on the woman's face, he seemed to change his mind. "Yeah?" He wasn't exactly a brave man, and even he would admit it.

Anna smirked sardonically. "Oh yes, always. I just pray that I get to watch as you fall," she replied, her tone laced with as much venom as there was in her eyes. The deadly looks that the woman gave him made Beni swallow with nervousness. He had seen her during the gun fight with those black-robed men, and he knew that she could kill him herself. If she didn't do it, O'Connell surely would... if the American was even still alive.

Beni, looking even more worried, started chewing on his lip as all four of them walked over the bridge crossing the disgusting disgusting detritus moat. Both sisters looked down at it, horrified.

"Oh, that is gross," Anna muttered, her sister nodding in agreement as they both scrunched their noses in disgust.

O'Connell and Ardeth were busy digging out a collapsed doorway when Jonathan noticed an amethyst scarab on the far wall.

He raised his eyebrows at it, impressed. "I say, look at that," he mumbled as he made his way over to it, then tried to jiggle it free. Once it came loose in his hand, he looked at the scarab in his palm. It started to glow, and then something inside it started to wiggle.

Jonathan frowned. "Say, gents! You should come have a look at this."

The wiggling continued, then, after seven long agonizing seconds, the scarab broke out of its cocoon and instantly burrowed into Jonathan's palm. Jonathan started to freak out and scream, causing O'Connell to immediately run up and rip the arm off Jonathan's shirt.

The scarab was now burrowing up Jonathan's arm. O'Connell whipped out his butterfly-knife, snapped it open and grabbed Jonathan's arm. Jonathan's eyes widened in terror as the knife passed in front of his face. He screamed louder, obviously from being cut open. O'Connell's hand flicked something away. The scarab hit the floor and immediately started scurrying back towards Jonathan, wanting to finish the job. O'Connell pulled out his gun and blew it away.

_BANG!_

The gunshot echoed into the cemetery as Imhotep, Anna, Evelyn and Beni stepped up to the strange altar, where, three thousand years ago, Imhotep tried to bring Anck-su-namun back to life.

Anna found herself smiling slightly again. "O'Connell," she breathed, knowing that he was on his way to rescue her and her sister.

Imhotep scowled at the sound and angrily reached into a canopic jar. He pulled out the crusted remains of Anck-su-namun's heart, crushed it to dust in his hand and started reading from The Book Of The Dead. Then he blew the dust against a mausoleum wall, which soon after started to come alive. Evelyn and Beni stared at the wall, both of them wide-eyed while Anna glared at the High Priest as two forms emerged from the mausoleum's wall. Horrific-looking mummified corpses, two of Imhotep's long dead Priests.

Anna groaned. "Ugh, this is seriously the worst way to come back to Hamunaptra," she muttered as the corpses bowed to Imhotep, then turned and moved off down a passageway.

O'Connell helped Ardeth mend Jonathan's wound. "From now on, don't touch anything. Not a damn thing. Keep your hands off the furniture, got it?" Jonathan swallowed hard and nodded vigorously.

Imhotep prepared the altar while speaking in Hebrew, something that surprised Anna as she was expecting to hear him speak ancient Egyptian, though at least she understood bits of what he said.

Of course, Beni did not care that the eldest Carnahan woman understood. He was satisfied with translating for the youngest, so he could have some fun of his own before it all ended.

Holding his gun on her, he translated, "Prince Imhotep wants your heart."

Evelyn blushed, feeling complimented by the handsome prince, but she was also confused. Wasn't he in love with his sister... well, her sister's past self? And didn't he love Anck-su-namun as well? Heck! As far as she remembered, he was a mummified two-timing freak, or, better said, a horribly gorgeous, fully regenerated, previously mummified, two-timing freak like her sister said.

Evelyn, still slightly blushing, shook her head with a slight frown on her face. "Tell him, I'm truly flattered... but that it's already taken," she said, her blush emphasizing as the face of a certain Medjai leader popped into her head. Anna fought back a small smile as she watched her sister's flustered face, knowing exactly what she was thinking.

Imhotep continued speaking while laying the four jewel encrusted canopic jars next to the shattered one.

"He wants your heart and your brain," Beni continued. Anna scrunched her nose, looking at him and the High Priest in disgust. "Your liver, your kidneys..." Evelyn's eyes widened and Anna's look turned into a glare at both men, though neither seemed to notice. "... and how do you say? Those slimy things, in your stomach?"

Anna rolled her eyes at the imbecile. "Intestines, you little cockroach."

"Yeah! Them."

Evelyn was stunned. Anna can't believe it, she furiously turned to Imhotep. "You only want my baby sister for her organs?!"

Imhotep looked at her before looking at Evelyn, now grinning. He then backhanded the young Carnahan —  _WAP!_ — knocking her down for the count. Imhotep stared at her, cold, malevolent, then he turned to walk off into the mausoleums, only to be stopped by a soft hand holding his arm firmly. He turned to find Anna glaring up at him with so much hatred and a hint of betrayal, it surprisingly made his heart clench.

" _I warned you_ ," she said, not caring to check if she was speaking in ancient Egyptian or not. " _I told you I'd stop you, and I will._ "

He looked at her, for the first time, with emotionless eyes. " _The best warrior shall win_ ," he replied in his deep voice before throwing a hard blow on her head, knocking her out into his arms. Throwing the younger unconscious Carnahan over his shoulder, he bent down and carefully picked Anna up, and continued his way into the mausoleums.

Beni nervously glanced around, then quickly scurried  _away_.

O'Connell squeezed through a small crevice in a wall and dropped to the floor of a dark chamber. He picked up his gunnysack and scaned the darkness. Something glittered. Jonathan and Ardeth crawled in behind him just as O'Connell noticed a shaft of light, high above him, shooting through a small hole in the ceiling and stopping against a wall next to one of those mirror disks. O'Connell aimed his gun and fired. The bullet stroke the disk's pedestal, spinning the mirror into the shaft of light, and  _WHAM!_  The shaft of light hit the disk and quickly bounced around the room from one disk to another until the whole chamber was lit up.

It was an enormous treasure chamber, filled to overflowing, everything shining and sparkling. The wealth of Egypt. O'Connell, Jonathan and Ardeth were speechless. That's when the two mummified Priest-mummies walked in.

"Who the hell are these guys?" O'Connell demanded.

Ardeth's gaze hardened as his eyes rested upon the new comers. "Priests. Imhotep's priests."

O'Connell pulled the elephant gun out of his gunny-sack. "I never killed a priest before," he muttered.

"They are evil, cursed, they matter not," Ardeth said.

O'Connell nodded, seeming satisfied with that new piece of information. "Well, okay then." And with that, he fired the elephant gun.

Smoke and flames shot out, blasting one of the mummies, blowing its upper torso clean off. O'Connell pumped the gun, the huge spent cartridge flipping through the air, and fired again, blasting the other mummy, blowing this one's torso clean off as well. The smoke cleared and the two sets of legs kept walking forward, unaffected by the loss of their upper torsos.

O'Connell couldn't believe it. "Oh come on, gimme a break here."

And then the disemboweled upper torsos start to move, turning over and crawling towards our heroes, who started to back away in disgust and disbelief.

Imhotep turned from the altar as he heard more gunshots echoing out of the passageways. He angrily reached into another of Anck-su-namun's canopic jars, pulled out her crusty liver and crushed it to dust, then quickly started reading a passage from the Book and blew the dust down a passageway.

" _Kill them! Kill them all! And bring me the Book Of The Living!_ "

A dusty breeze blew into the chamber as O'Connell, Jonathan and Ardeth backed away from the mummy pieces. The floor where they were just standing suddenly started to move, then two more mummies slowly dug their way up out of it. More mummies started coming out of the walls and crawling out of the piles of gold. Soon, all the mummies headed for the three men. O'Connell lifted the elephant gun, though Ardeth stopped him.

"My turn," he said.

Then he opened up with the Lewis gun, blasting the shit out of the mummies. They kept on coming, even more now. O'Connell opened fire with the elephant gun, pumping and firing as all three of the men backed away. The mummies and mummy pieces followed them into the passageway. Beni, then, creeped into the chamber they had just left. He stared in wonder at all the treasure, then fell backwards into a pile of jewels and rolled about like the treasure-thirsty idiot he is.

Evelyn woke up, lying chained to the top of the altar. She blinked, then turned her head, only to find herself staring right into the rotted face of Anck-su-namun's corpse. She screamed, causing her sister, who lay on Anck-su-namun's free side, also chained, to wake up with a start. Blinking a few times, Anna craned her neck and looked around, groggily in confusion. It took her a few seconds to realize that she was chained down and that her sister was screaming. She turned to look at her right, about to ask her sister what was going on when she cut herself off, eyes widening at the sight before her.

"HOLLY SHI— WHAT THE— OH, MY—" her words didn't make any sense, but of course that matter would soon be dismissed as she started screaming as well.

The elephant gun fired, blasting flame and smoke right into the lens. O'Connell, Jonathan and Ardeth raced down a passageway, a dozen mummies striding after them.

"This whole place is comin' alive!"

The men raced around a corner. More mummies. They raced around another corner. More mummies. Onward they came— methodical, relentless, boxing in the three men, O'Connell and Ardeth firing as they go... that is, until Ardeth went empty.

"I'm out!" He threw the machine gun down and they all raced into a small chamber.

It was there. They finally found it. The lower half of the giant statue of Horus stood in the middle of the small chamber.

"There he is!" Jonathan exclaimed happily. They ran up to the base of the statue. "Hello, Horus, old boy."

O'Connell looked back at the mummies coming down the passageway, reached into his gunny-sack and pulled out a stick of dynamite.

Ardeth tapped him on the shoulder. "Allow me."

O'Connell handed him the dynamite and a match, then turned to look at the statue. Ardeth reached forward and stroke the match off O'Connell's stubbly face, causing him to yelp. Ardeth lit the dynamite and threw it down the passageway, then they all hit the deck as the dynamite exploded, ripping apart the creatures, and causing a cave-in and sealing the passageway with rock and dirt. Now there was only one way out— another dark, creepy passageway.


	13. Immortal he comes, mortal he leaves

Chained tight to the top of the altar, Anna and Evelyn hopelessly struggled to free themselves. They stopped as Priest mummies stared surrounding the altar. Evelyn was horrified and Anna was panicked as the hideous mummies knelt down and began to chant, which now sounded even more horrific due to the lack of tongues, jaws and mouths in the room. Imhotep stepped up carrying the black Book of The Dead. His hand reached out and lovingly caressed Anck-su-namun's decayed cheek before doing the same with Anna’s burning one.

"You sick bastard!" she shouted, pulling at the chains, even though it was really no use, before letting her arms drop in defeat, not caring that the previously ‘mummified two-timing freak’ was leaving slow caresses upon her while chanting.

_You must not show vanquishment_ , a soft, melodic voice echoed.

Anna’s head snapped up in confusion. "What the...?" she muttered, craning her neck as much as she could to see where the voice came from, though she had her doubts of ever hearing it in the first place. Maybe she imagined it? After all, it wasn’t very unlikely at a time like this.

_Show defiance_ , the voice continued.  _Show resistance_.

Anna frowned, trying hard to ignore the chanting and Imhotep’s caresses that were honestly making her feel very uncomfortable.

**Who the hell are you?**  she thought. Thinking back to the voice seemed like the only logical thing to do as there seemed to be no woman other than her, her screaming sister, and a still dead decaying mummy.

It was silent inside of Annabella’s mind for a few seconds before the voice finally replied.

_Ancient Egyptian princess, granddaughter of Pharaoh Khamudi, the last Hyksos ruler, daughter of Menmaatre Seti, successor of Pharaoh Khamudi, King of Egypt_ , she started.  _I am Nebetia, your dvoĭno._

**... you do realize that word is in Bulgarian, right?**  Anna thought back.

_Of course, I said it so because I know you are not fluent enough to understand it if I spoke it in my language._

**... you could’ve just said you’re my three thousand year-old double** , Anna thought back.  **Anyway, how are you talking to me?**

_Imhotep is getting closer, by the second, to bringing me back_ , Nebetia said.  _You must resist, harden your soul, fight it. If I come back, you die_.

Anna was confused. She wouldn’t have thought someone from the dead would actually try to avoid the opportunity to come back to life.  **Wouldn’t you want that?**

_No_ , replied Nebetia.  _Especially not if it means taking the life of another. Besides, I have lived my life. I have done my time already_.

**You are... so selfless** , Anna thought in awe. She didn’t know why, but all this time she had expected Nebetia to not care about her dying and take over her body, even if just for revenge.

Something clenched in Annabella’s heart, causing her back to arch forward as she let out a strangled gasp.

_No! Fight it, Annabella! You must not give in— I must not come back!_ Anna could feel tears escaping her eyes as the pain increased.  _Fight, Annabella!_

Anna whimpered.  **I’m trying! But it... it hurts... so much.**

_I know_ , Nebetia thought to her, softly. _But you must keep fighting it. Don’t let it pull you away— keep holding on. Think about your comrades, your parents, your siblings... think about O’Connell_.

**I... I can’t!**

_Yes, you can! Think about them, they need you! Jonathan needs someone to tell him right from wrong, to keep him from doing idiocies. Evelyn needs you to support her in her every decision, to give her the advice your brother cannot give—to be her sister, always there for her._

Anna groaned, shutting her eyes as if that would make the pain go away, but of course it wouldn’t.  **I can’t... hold on... I... am slipping...**

_Richard needs you!_

Anna, despite her pain, couldn’t help but feel puzzled.  **Who?**

If Nebetia was there, she would’ve undoubtedly rolled her eyes at Anna.  _Rick O’Connell. He needs you._

**How... the hell... does he need... me?**

_He needs you to show him love... the love he never got to experience; the one he has been yearning for ever since he was but a child; the one he has been searching for ever since he became a man. He needs you, Annabella..._

O'Connell and Jonathan were digging away at the seams of the secret compartment, which soon started to give. That was when Ardeth spotted another group of rotting mummies coming down the dark passageway, heading right for them.

O'Connell looked up. "These guys just don't quit!"

Ardeth grabbed the elephant gun and a handful of shells, and ran off towards the mummies. "Keep digging!"

O'Connell and Jonathan redoubled their efforts, pulling harder on the seam. The compartment started to loosen, about to give. The last time this happened, salt acid sprayed out, remember? With the other Americans that were complete hotheaded idiots?

Our heroes kept tugging. The tension mounted… and that's when a skeletal hand burst up, out of the ground and grabbed O’Connell’s ankle. Several more moldy hands burst up, out of the ground. O'Connell and Jonathan struggled with the mummies as they crawled up, out of the dirt floor. One of the mummies violently shoved O'Connell away. Another grabbed Jonathan by the throat and started to strangle him. A third mummy grabbed at the secret compartment, and pulled hard...

An intense burst of acid sprayed out of the seam and hit all three of the mummies. The one strangling Jonathan got it in the back and dropped him right before all three mummies melted horribly.

In the altar, Imhotep began to read from The Book Of The Dead. A large swirling hole started to open in the detritus bog. Evelyn's eyes widen in amazement and horror as she watched, stealing glances at her sister who was shaking and whimpering in pain. She was more worried for her than herself-- she had never seen her sister in so much agony.

**Nebetia... you're going to have to... pull... yourself away from... whatever barrier... there is between these two worlds. I can't hold on... you're being pushed... into my body.**

"Anna?" Evelyn asked in a small voice. She was afraid, panicked— she needed her sister, but most of all, she needed to make sure her sister was okay... that she was still there.

_I will try, child... I—_   _NO!_

Her lids snapped open, and new orbs stared above in wonder. Her eyebrows furrowed, she concentrated, and concentrated...

"Anna!"

Ardeth blasted away at the oncoming mummies. Over at the base of the statue, O'Connell and Jonathan pulled an ornate chest out of the secret compartment. O'Connell ripped off the lid, reached inside and pulled out a heavy burlap bag. He and Jonathan exchange nervous, excited looks. Then he reached into the bag and slowly pulled out the solid gold Book Of The Living. Golden light reflected off their faces as they stared at it in wonder. The elephant gun soon went empty. Ardeth took it by the barrel and waded into the remaining mummies, swinging.

"Save the girls!" he shouted at the two other men. "Kill the creature!"

The mummies quickly overwhelm and start to tear him apart. O'Connell lights the last stick of dynamite and throws it against the far wall. He and Jonathan hit the deck.

"That's the last one," he said with a sigh. "We better get lucky."

The wall blew, debris collapsing, but now there was a hole for them to get out. O'Connell and Jonathan raced out through the hole just as the remaining mummies entered the chamber.

Outside, Beni staggered across the sand with a saddlebag filled with treasure, and threw it over the rear of a camel. He started to climb up, slightly hesitating as he looked back at the temple door. Licking his lips, he let his greed get the better of him and he quickly climbed down and scurried back towards the door for more.

Brows still furrowed, she closed her eyes once more and concentrated as hard as she could, ignoring the chants, the grunts, and her name being called by the only other woman alive in that altar. She concentrated hard until she was satisfied by the distant sound of four clicks.

Confused, Evelyn stopped herself from calling out to her sister when she felt her ankles and wrists being released. This wasn't supposed to happen, was it?

She discreetly, slightly rolled onto her side to peak over the still dead corpse over to her sister. The older Carnahan's eyes were closed, but the stiffness of her body that was caused by the High Priest's caresses was what showed that she was alive.

Evelyn blinked in confusion when she saw her sister's lips move once. She had never been good at lip reading, so she couldn't tell if her sister had actually said one word, or if she'd just imagine it. Then  _oh!_ There is was again!

**R...r... u...**  What was she saying?

**R... r... u** —  _oh!_  Run!

Stupidly nodding to herself, Evelyn rolled herself off the stone table and scrambled onto her feet. Imhotep was enraged, but he could not interrupt himself, so he sent some of he summoned more mummies and sent them after her as she clumsily ran, though she couldn't exactly get out and get some help as she'd hoped since she was literally being chased in circles around the chamber as Imhotep continued to read from the Book.

The rotten Priest-mummies rocked back and forth, chanting. Anna's eyes finally snapped open, though the pain wasn't gone yet. She felt as if she were on fire, as if she were holding onto something almost as hot as the sun and was losing her grip on it— losing her grip on her body, her life. No matter the pain, she needed to keep holding on. She couldn't die now, her siblings needed her. O'Connell needed her. Nathan and Elena needed her.

Her eyes, which had gone green for a moment, slowly returned to their hazel color, though the simply green little specks they had once had were emphasized as the pain slowly started to fade.

_Congratulations, child_ , the familiar soft voice echoed in her head.

Anna sighed as her mind came back to the present. The last thing she remembered doing was freeing her sister. Now all she had to do was find away out for herself... after she finds a way to break an immortal's hand. This guy was seriously pissing her off with his soft caresses, and— no! First escape, then think about killing.

Anna started to struggle against the chains as she couldn't free herself as she'd done with her sister. That was not her power, that was Nebetia, but she couldn't ask the princess for help now. Though the pain had started to fade, it was still there, which meant they were still fighting to stay in their rightful worlds.

Suddenly, the strange mist wafted up out of the swirling hole and over to the sacred jars, it passed through them and into Anna. That really wasn't supposed to happen. Anna jerked as though she'd been electrified. The mist passed through her and into Anck-su-namun's body. The chanting priests, swirling hole, wafting mist and Imhotep's now desperate readings reached a crescendo.

Anck-su-namun's crusty eyelids suddenly popped open. Evelyn and the mummies froze from their run, and Anna's struggles subdued as she stared at corpse in disbelief. She had seen Imhotep in his decaying form, running and screaming around— heck! She'd even kissed his decaying form, much to her dislike, but never had she seen a mummy come back to life, and trust me when I say, agreeing with her of course, that ain't a pretty sight!

Anck-su-namun's rotted head turned and looked at Anna with empty sockets. Anna's eyes widened as those of a dear caught in daylight, and started freaking out and struggling wildly.

_Stay calm, Annabella._

**Calm... calm?! Your former best friend, whom your former betrothed had used to cheat on you is now after me since my sister is being chased around like a mouse by stupid cats!**

Then she noticed Imhotep holding the ancient sacrificial knife.

_There is something wrong with this scene_ , Anna thought to herself.  _Wasn't he trying to have me possessed? Now he's trying to kill me for that— what the hell?!_

" _With your death, my love and I will be invincible!_ " Imhotep exclaimed.

"Nebetia!" Anna found herself shouting as he raised the knife up over her chest, about to plunge it down. Her eyes widened in horror And that was when O'Connell and Jonathan burst in. Imhotep spun around and faced them. Jonathan beamed as he holds up the golden Book Of The Living, completely unaware of his baby sister being chased around by mummies, and the other stuck in the middle of fighting against being possessed and being sacrificed.

"Anna! Evy! I found it! I found it!" Jonathan exclaimed himself.

"Jonathan?!" Evelyn exclaimed, running up to her brother in disbelief.

"Evy?" Jonathan asked, staring at his baby sister, confused. Wasn't she the one who was going to be sacrificed while Anna was going to be possessed?

"Shut-up and get me off of here!" Anna shouted from where she was chained.

O'Connell grabbed an ancient sword out of a statue's hand, jumped up onto a gravestone and leaped out over the Priests. The priest-mummies stopped chanting as the mist vanished and Imhotep stepped forward, only to have the sacrificial knife struck out of his hand by O'Connell. Infuriated, Imhotep bellowed a command. The Priests stood up, swords and knives in hand, and attacked O'Connell as Evelyn and Jonathan simply stood on the sidelines and watched, the mummies that had previously been chasing after the youngest Carnahan now going after the American as well.

Anna stared at her two siblings in disbelief. "Open the book, dammit! Open the book! That's the only way to kill him!"

O'Connell racked and chopped at the attacking priest-mummies, fighting his way to Anna. The skeletal creatures wildly swung their swords, trying to stab O'Connell. Evelyn and Jonathan fumbled with the book, struggling to open it— they couldn't.

"We can't open it! It's locked or something!" Jonathan said.

O'Connell cut two of the mummies in half, then swung his sword down at Anna.  _CLANG!_  One chain broke free.

Jonathan spotted a series of solid gold, four-sided locks along the binder. It hit him like lightning. "We need the key!"

Imhotep grinned, then grabbed the key hanging from a chain around his neck, ripped it off and shoved it into his pocket before picking up, once more, the sacrificial sword and headed for Jonathan.

"What do I do, Anna!? What do I do!?"

It suddenly clicked in Evelyn's head. "The inscription!"

Anna rolled her eyes. "Yeah, glad to know ya still remember the things you spent your life studying, sister," she muttered sarcastically.

"What?" Jonathan asked, looking down at Evelyn in confusion.

Just like her sister, she rolled her eyes. "You have to read the inscription on the cover!"

"Where—"

"Oh, give me that!"

"No! I've got this!"

As Anna struggled with her remaining cuff, O'Connell fought off the priests with the ancient Egyptian sword he had stolen from a statue. Occasionally, he'd send a mummy flying over Anna, and she'd grit her teeth as she tried to get her arm free to help him, feeling completely useless as she simply watched him defeat their enemy.

It didn't help much when Jonathan  _tried_  to help. He had quickly started translating the cover inscription, but his ancient Egyptian was clearly awful.

" _Keetash_ -something,  _naraba_ -something," Jonathan started to backpedal through the cemetery, clutching the golden book, Evelyn trying to get him to stop pacing so she could help him, but to no avail as Imhotep moved in on him.

Rick looked at Anna after he knocked one of the mummies' head off, and smirked at her. Anna found herself smiling back at the cocky man.

"Mummies," he said, as if it was explaining something, and then raised the sword to cut down on the manacle on her arm... but he was pulled to the ground by a mummified priest with no lower body. The mummy pulled O'Connell towards its, and Anna became almost frantic as she tried to escape. He couldn't reach his sword anymore, and he needed her help, especially when another half-mummy grabbed him around the shoulders.

"Look out!" Anna warned as she caught sight of a full mummy carrying a large, heavy stone tablet, clearly it's intention is to crush O'Connell underneath it. "O'Connell!"

Anna used her free hand to grab her gun— she had just realized and remembered she had on her— from its holster, and aimed it at the legs of the mummy just as it raised the tablet to drop on O'Connell. She fired twice, one bullet for each leg. The bullets tear holes through the priest-mummy's thin legs, which caused it to teeter backwards and fall. Anna laughed as the mummy was then crushed underneath the same tablet that could have killed O'Connell. Rick glanced up at her, and she smirked at him before she shot the mummy clinging to his legs straight through the head, which allowed the American to escape.

" _Ebarra im hatu Kashka ummmmm_...?" Jonathan tripped and fell on his ass, and Imhotep took that as his golden opportunity to charge forward. " _Rasheem Aaaaa ANUBIS!_ "

Imhotep raised the sacrificial sword, about to kill Jonathan. And that was when the giant statue of Anubis suddenly crashed through the wall shades of Ray Harryhausen, though only  _better_... The god of Deaths, horrible, decrepit stone face stared angrily down.

Jonathan stared back. "Oh, boy."

"Jonathan, you idiot!" Evelyn hissed. Anna couldn't agree more.

O'Connell decapitated a mummy, then looked up at Anubis. "This just keeps gettin' better and better," he commented, and Anna silently agreed with his sarcasm.

"Jonathan! You have to—" Evelyn was cut off by many pairs of skeletal hands, reaching out for her. Slightly shrieking, she ran off, trying to get away from the mummies chasing after her once more.

_Why can't men chase me like this?_  she wondered.

Imhotep left Jonathan and headed for the giant statue. O'Connell leaped over and, with one last swing of the sword, freed Annabella from her chains. However, reading wrongly once again, Jonathan made more priest-mummies come and attack O'Connell, forcing him away from the damsel. Anna jumped off the altar and started to head for O'Connell to aid him when, suddenly, a skeletal hand grabbed her and spun her around.

Anna stared at the female rotted corpse with wide eyes before letting out an awkward chuckle. "Hello... remember me?"

Anck-su-namun lifted a knife Anna had not noticed before. "Uh, I guess you do," Anna replied to her own question, staring at the blade.

Imhotep looks up at Anubis, pointed to O'Connell, and in ancient Egyptian commanded him to attack. Anubis moved for O'Connell, stomping over mausoleums and through the detritus moat on his way. O'Connell quickly backed away.

"Do something, Jonathan! Kill it!" O'Connell shouted.

Jonathan could feel himself sweating everywhere. "You have got to be joking?"

Anna was backing away from Anck-su-namun. Evelyn was fending the few mummies that were after her as best as she could. She was no good at fighting, but at least she still remembered most of what her sister had taught her.

"Finish the inscription, idiot!" both sisters hissed.

"Oh." Anck-su-namun attacked Anna who fended her off as best she could. She wasn't so bad when it came down to hand-to-hand combat, but fighting off a person who's already dead and abnormally strong isn't as easy as it seems.

Jonathan quickly looked back at the hieroglyphs on the book cover, fumbling badly under the pressure. "Ummm,  _Hootash im_...  _Hootash im_ , now what is this last symbol here?"

"What's it look like!?" Evelyn asked, kicking a mummy away as Anck-su-namun grabbed Anna by the throat, further away. The statue of Anubis cornered O'Connell, reached down and grabbed him with its massive talons as O'Connell hacked away at it.

Jonathan simply stared at the inscription, slightly oblivious. "It's an Anck symbol, with two little squiggly lines above it, and a bird, a stork!"

After clumsily punching off another mummy, Evelyn looked over at her brother, slightly panicked. "I can't remember— ah!" She quickly dodged a mummy that was about to claw her face out.

Nearly at the other end of the mausoleum, Anna was being strangled by Anck-su-namun. "Ah-ah!  _Ahmenophus!_ "

Jonathan's eyes lit up like a those of a child on Christmas morning. "Yes... I see."

Anna headbutted Anck-su-namun, causing the mummy to slightly loosen her grip on her throat. "Finish it, you idiot!"

"Oh, right." The talons lifted O'Connell up and started to crush him. " _Hootash im Ahmenophus!_ "

The giant statue of Anubis instantly froze in its tracks and petrified. Off balance, it started to fall as O'Connell slid free of it's talons. Annabella shoved Anck-su-namun away. The female mummy then looked up and opened her fetid mouth to scream just as Anubis crashed down on top of her, smashing her to powder and driving her into the ground. Imhotep shrieked in rage and horror, then turned and angrily headed for Jonathan. Jonathan, sitting on his ass, quickly backpedaled on his hands and heels.

O'Connell leaped to his feet, sword in hand and ran for Imhotep. The High Priest grabbed Jonathan, lifted him up, ripped the golden Book Of The Living out of his hand before pinning him to a wall. O'Connell ran up and swung his sword at Imhotep,  _WAP!_  slicing Imhotep's 'right arm off. It dropped to the ground, still clutching The Book Of The Living. Imhotep dropped Jonathan and spun around, facing O'Connell.

O'Connell grinned. "Okay pal, let's see how tough you are without your right arm."

Imhotep grabbed O'Connell with his left arm and threw him half way across the cemetery. O'Connell slammed into a gravestone, bounced off and crashed to the ground.

He shook it off. "Alright... so he's left handed." Imhotep was already striding towards him.

Jonathan lifted up his hand, holding the four-sided key up triumphantly. He smiled at Anna, who had just finished off the two remaining mummies that were after her sister, by shooting them with the last bit of ammo she had.

"I got it!" he exclaimed happily. Anna and Evelyn ran for Jonathan.

Anna grabbed the key out of her brother's hand as he lifted up the heavy gold book as Imhotep's severed hand still clung to it, and cringed in disgust.

She turned to look in O'Connell's direction. "Keep him busy!" she told him, knowing her words would not amuse him at all, as he was thrown across the room again and into a stone pillar.

"No problem," Anna barely heard him reply as she fumbled with the key.

She yanked it open and immediately scoured it for the inscription that would take away Imhotep's immortality. She flipped the page, starting to panic for the American she had come to love, her eyes flickering every so often towards him to make sure he was still alive.

O'Connell swung his sword and cleaved a big chunk of molten flesh rot out of Imhotep's stomach. On the outside, Imhotep looked human, but on the inside he was still a rotten old mummy. Imhotep backhanded O'Connell, knocking him twenty feet back. He staggered to his feel, only to find Imhotep already there. The Priest clubbed him hard with his left arm, causing O'Connell to spin through the air and slam into the side of a mausoleum.

Imhotep approached, rage in his eyes. O'Connell got up, quickly pivots and hacked into Imhotep's head. Imhotep grinned and punched O'Connell in the face, throwing the American back, pulling his sword with him. He bounced hard off the mausoleum, and fortunately landed on his feet, though totally beat-to-shit, knees buckling. He could barely stand.

Anna yanked the arm off the book and threw it away, then start furiously working the key into the series of locks, unlocking each of them as Imhotep strode forward toward the American. O'Connell backed into the mausoleum and swung the sword, which Imhotep tried to catch. It cleaved through his palm and deeply embedded itself into his forearm. No matter, Imhotep ripped the sword away from O'Connell and casually flung it away.

The golden Book Of The Living opened with a hiss. Jonathan held it tight as Anna quickly turned the heavy gold pages looking for something.

"Found it?" Evelyn asked in a nervous voice.

"Not helping, Eve!" Anna replied.

O'Connell turned to run, but Imhotep grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off his feet. O'Connell hung there, a dazed mess.

"Hurry, Anna, hurry!" Jonathon rushed her as Anna tried her hardest not to make a mistake in her panic.

"Jon, you're not helping," she replied, her voice rising an octave.

" _Now, it's your turn_ ," she heard Imhotep say. The resurrected High Priest was grinning as he started to strangle O'Connell. Anna watched as he choked, about to die,frozen in fright for his life and slight daze at the situation she never would've imagine finding herself in.

"Anna!" Evelyn exclaimed, snapping her sister out of her daze.

"Right! Sorry!" She quickly flipped a few more pages before she finally landed on the one she had been looking for. "Got it."

Anna turned and faced Imhotep as she read the inscription. " _Kadeesh mal! Kadeesh mal! Pared oos! PARED OOS!!_ "

Imhotep pivoted on his feet to look at Anna, a look of sheer terror on his face. Then he looked over at the detritus bog. Which starts to bubble and shift. The swirling hole began to open, and then, suddenly, the spirits of the Egyptian gods wafted out of the black bog and swirled around the priest-mummies. The mummies all collapsed and turned to dust.

Anna nodded to herself. "Well, doesn't that look lovely," she muttered sarcastically as, then, the spirited attacked Imhotep, lifting him and O'Connell up into the air. Imhotep let go of O'Connell, who fell to the ground. As the three Carnahans stumbled away from the spirits, Jonathan tripped and fell, accidentally throwing The Book of The Living into the detritus bog.

Evelyn watched, with wide eyes, as the golden book sank into the black putrescence. Jonathan looked like he was about to cry.

Ten feet off the ground, the spirits swirled around Imhotep's body, twisting it and turning it, and slowly shriveling it. Accompanied by the same strange flashing light and a blast of wind, Imhotep was spat out and thrown to the floor. He staggered to his feet, he looked perfectly normal. His body is completely intact.

Rick stumbled to his feet, grabbing his discarded sword from the ground. "I thought you said it was gonna kill him!" he almost growled as Imhotep, furiously marched toward him and launched himself at O'Connell once more, intending to strangle him.

Evelyn and Jonathan nervously grasped onto Anna, each holding onto on of her arms. "Immortal he comes, mortal he leaves," Anna said quietly as O'Connell stopped the man by swinging his sword, causing Imhotep to jerk back as the blade scraped his chest, a swath of blood appearing across it, where the sword hit him. Imhotep touched the blood on his chest, amazed and horrified.

Evelyn, understanding what she meant, loosened her grip, slightly relieved. "He's mortal. He is as vulnerable as any man."

O'Connell ran Imhotep through with the sword and shoved him backwards. Imhotep stumbled back and fell into the detritus bog, the sword still in his stomach. Anna, Evelyn and Jonathan ran up next to O'Connell.

They watched as Imhotep gently sank into the fetid swamp, slowly dying. And then, just before his head went under, Imhotep looked up at them, grinned broadly, and said something in ancient Egyptian which Anna then translated, with a grim look on her face.

" _Death is only the beginning_ ," she said as Imhotep's grinning face vanished under the black bile.


	14. Epilogue

Although they all had that uneasy feeling within them, it quickly dissipated into relief. They won. They won the battle and saved the world, but before they could enjoy that feeling of accomplishment and happiness, the whole room started to shake. The quartet looked around the mausoleum and started panicking when the ceiling slowly started to descend. They knew at once that if they did not leave, they would be trapped.

"Time to go!" O'Connell announced, grabbing Anna's hand, who, in turn, grabbed Evelyn's free hand as her other one already had a grip on Jonathan. The four of them raced through the passageways, ignoring the sand that rained down on top of them, and ducked under a closing barricade before they ran into the treasure room. Anna, Rick and Evelyn ignored the temptation of the sparkling jewels and glittering gold, but Jonathan skidded to a halt.

He slowly spun around in a circle, lamenting how much they could have, before Anna and Evelyn ran back and grabbed on of his arms each.

"Couldn't we just—"

"No, Jonathan!" his sisters both scolded him as they both shoved him forward, with O'Connell's help, and ran up the stairs that led to the next room. They had to duck down a little to make it under one of the descending doorways, then having to dive into the next room, into safety. Jonathan went first, then he pulled Evelyn and Anna through, leaving Rick to slide out in next.

"O'Connell!" he heard Beni shout, and turned, laying on his stomach. "Wait"

"Come on, give me your hand!" he called, holding his own hand out, though he doubted the skittish man would make it to the door in time.

Beni dropped to his stomach, but the doorway closed and Rick had to pull his hand away quickly. "Goodbye, Beni."

He scrambled to his feet and ran after the Carnahans, who had waited just down the next passageway for him. Despite how much danger they were in, Rick did manage to notice the look of relief on Anna's face as she saw him alive and barreling down the passageway towards them. He took her hand again and together, with the other two Carnahans, they rushed out of the entrance, only to have to duck and dodge the falling columns and archways, and the sand sinking under their feet, like quicksand. They chased after the camels as Hamunaptra, The City of The Dead, caved in on itself, and finally they stopped running to stare at the massive cloud of sand and dust that billowed upwards from the destruction and the ending of their whole ordeal

They watched the city sink into the ground until Jonathan shouted in surprise, which, in turn, startled Anna, Evelyn and Rick. The three spun around, thinking they had another enemy to deal with, but it was just Ardeth.

"Ah, thank you very much," Jonathan said sarcastically as he held a hand to his pounding heart.

The Medjai slightly glanced down at the intertwined hands of Anna and O'Connell and, after a brief pause gone unnoticed, he nodded, forgetting the disappointment he somewhat felt. He did not know why he felt this way, but either way, he dismissed it, happy that the young woman seemed happy.

"You've earned the respect and gratitude of me and my people," he said to Jonathan, but his eyes were on Anna, who stared back at him with a smile. She kept glancing to her sister, who was blushing, trying hard not to look at the Medjai.

"Yeah, well, it was nothing," Jonathan replied, faking modesty for once in his life.

The Medjai smiled. "May Allah smile upon you always," he said and blessed them; he kissed his fingers, touched them to his forehead and then gestured to the quartet on the ground.

"And... yourself," Jonathan replied, trying to mimic his action. Chuckling, Ardeth clicked his tongue at the camel and steered it away from them.

"Yes, anytime!" Jonathan said.

"Stay out of trouble," O'Connell called after the Medjai, who somehow still managed to hear and chuckled.

"I expect to see you again to whisk my sister away!" Anna called after him, though he probably didn't hear that last bit. "Don't want her to be a librarian for the rest of her life," she added in a mutter, ignoring her blushing sister, who was stuttering beside her.

"What?!" Jonathan exclaimed, just now realizing what Anna meant by 'whisking their sister away'.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Oh, you're so blind, Jonathan."

Jonathan huffed, and turned to look back at the Medjai, who seemed to already be miles away. "He's just leaving us here." He shook his head in disbelief. "Well... I guess we go home, empty-handed."

Rick looked down at Anna, and stared at her lovingly. "I wouldn't say that," he murmured, causing the woman to look up at him as she felt his gaze on her. His eyes stared deep into her own, and Annabella felt her heart start to hammer in chest.

"Oh, please," Jonathan muttered as he looked back at his sister and their American friend, staring lovingly into each other's eyes, Evelyn smiling brightly as she watched them as well.

Neither Anna, nor Rick seemed to hear him, however, and, almost hesitantly, they both leaned in and softly pressed their lips together. She didn't bat his hand away as he pulled her closer to him, the kiss remained soft and loving, very different from the first one all those days ago in Cairo prison. She melted into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his neck as they broke apart. Rick gently rubbed their noses together, the sweet action bringing a wide, gentle smile— a smile neither Evelyn nor Jonathan had seen since before their parents passed away. That's how they knew she was finally happy. And she was. She was back with both of her siblings whom she had missed so dearly, and she found love along the way. Of course, she would be happy.

By the time the two new lovers had finished with their intimate moment, Jonathan had already climbed up onto one of the camels, with Evelyn behind him, both waiting for them, Jonathan surprisingly more patient than either Anna or Evelyn had ever seen him. Rick climbed onto the saddle of the remaining camel— all the others had scattered when the city began to fall into the ground— and then pulled Annabella up into the seat in front of him. She smiled at him, as the camel rose to its feet, and wrapped an arm around his waist. He grinned down at her, snapping the reins to push the camel forward, and caught her lips, once more, in a sweet, loving kiss as they rode together into the sunset, none of them knowing that they hadn't left Hamunaptra as empty-handed as they thought.

**Author's Note:**

> Here are the links to my Quotev and Wattpad pages; as mentioned before, you'll be able to find them later on, in my profile.
> 
> https://www.quotev.com/AvyJC15/published  
> https://www.wattpad.com/user/AvyJC15


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